Stranger
by Agnes Lamb
Summary: Tale of a small-town country girl, who is haunted by her demonic dead twin, and trys her best to cure her alcoholic love, while taking care of her whole world, which is falling apart before her very eyes.
1. Chapter 1

**STRANGER**

**Agnes Lamb**

At the time, I was fifteen years old. I was a sophomore at Castle Heights just outside of Luttrell, TN. My father, Mike Kyle, owned a restaurant called 'Mike and May's,' named after him and my mother.

I stood in the bustling kitchen of 'Mike and May's,' and I was looking out a sparkling clean window, onto the old faded basketball court on the back lot of the diner. I remember all the awesome times my twin-brother, Grady, and I had spent there playing together. He was gone now though, and there was no one to share the memories with. Not even my parents. Those memories were just too painful to speak of, or even write about. Sometimes, even thinking about them would bring wishful tears forced to be silent, willing Grady to come back to earth and take me away.

Now, on this basketball court, there were about four or five teenage boys that could be maybe seventeen to nineteen years old. The obvious leader of the gang was a teenage boy, whose fragile frame had tattoos consisting of every color in a Crayola Crayon Box of two hundred- totally covering his arms, hands, chest, abs, and even his neck, with two smaller ones on his cheekbones. He had black hair, too black to be natural, which was just a tiny bit past his shoulders and he had side-bangs which completely concealed his forehead and one of his stone cold ice-glazed eyes. He was skinny, and it was really surprising that he had enough muscle to push another guy around. There was another boy of the same sort of image, but he was a little shorter with charcoal colored hair and eyes as dark as the midnight sky. He was a humorous little fellow, and usually tried to hide that comedic pleasure when his 'leader' was around. The two other boys looked as if they could be brothers. They were both a dirty blonde, with the same mannerisms. One of them was more built and muscular- obviously the strongest one of the group, and the other was skinnier than his assumed brother, but not as thin and fragile as the two boys. Both boys were tall, around 5'9 or so, but there was something special about the stronger one. His eyes. They were such a deep, frozen ice color; I shivered when ever I happened to lock eyes with him. They were just like the Arctic Oceans, with a little more turquoise, and gray flecks hiding their need for immediate help. There was a short, muscular teenage boy, wearing a tight black t-shirt, white jacket that was half-zipped, and red skinny jeans with a Miraculous Medal around his neck. He was standing in the middle, while the other teenagers formed a circle around him.

They were just talking at first, obviously getting into an argument. The boy covered in tattoos began to push him around, and threw him toward the strongest one like the shorter teenager was a ragdoll. Obviously, this had gone on for a while, because his jacket and jeans were very dirty and ripped in a few places like he had fallen on the hard asphalt numerous times. The strongest guy had taken a few steps back, letting the victim fall while the boy and the others laughed at him. This happened a few times, as I was standing there watching. The third time he was pushed, he finally got up, took a swing at the tattooed boy, but he ducked and another boy came up and punched him in the back so he would fall. As the boys stood there laughing at him, he lifted his head, which took tremendous effort, only to look at me with the most pained expression possible about 15 meters away inside, safe.

"Grady, what should I do?…I have 2 distract those boys. I obviously can't take them on…What would you do…?"

I swung the door open and walked outside. The boys stared at me, wondering what the heck I was doing there. I looked over at the one on the ground, and he was smiling now. I walked up to the tattooed boy and said:

"Do you guys want something to eat? My dad prepared something special for ya."

It was a total lie, but the whole gang ran inside, completely forgetting about their victim, who lied there, still looking up at me. He smiled at me, as I walked toward him, and told him to come with me, so those boys didn't come back and beat him up again. He agreed, and as I helped him up, he whimpered and winced a little. He was not able to walk on his own, so he put his arm around me, and with most of his weight on me, he limped. We walked to my house which was only a few hundred feet from the restaurant, where he cleaned up and I gave him some of Grady's old clothes.

When I went to retrieve them, I was a little shaken by walking into Grady's old room. It hadn't changed since the accident. It was the same room- navy blue walls, with hardwood flooring and a black carpet about 5x5 in the middle of the floor. In the lower right-hand corner, was his bed, covered with the all-important favorite Steelers bedspread. The football team's pillows on his bed sat there, arranged the way mother always fixed them. She gave him such a hard time with that every morning before school, yelling at him to set them properly. Those fluffy pillows held so many memories of the pillow-fights we had, and all the forts we made. His dresser, which was still full of his clothes, had not been touched and was in the middle of the left wall. Next to his dresser, he had the suspended bubble chair filled with black and gold Steelers pillows, with a bookcase in between that and the window. His desk, which was very rarely in use, lined the wall at the end of his bed. It was natural oak, with a swivel chair that was never in its place. It was facing the door, as if someone was sitting there. On the desk, was a piece of paper, folded in half to stand up. I walked over to the desk, and picked up the note. I was wondering why I hadn't seen it before. On the front, it said _'Megan-' _I opened it up, and here is what it said.

1-15-00

_Hey twin-sis, _

_I know I'm gone, but I'm still with you. I'll never leave you, and just call me when you need me, and talk to me, cuz I'll always listen. I'm glad you haven't forgotten about me, but don't cry when you think of the fun times we had. I know I'm always happy when I remember. Just call me whenever you want to, because I'm with you. It may not seem like I'm there, but I am._

_Love,_

_Grady_

_P.S. Say hi to Mason for me. _

I smiled as I put the note back down on the desk. No wonder I hadn't seen it before. He just wrote it today. Usually, I would be creeped out by the fact I just received a note from a dead sibling, but before he left this world, he told me that he would always be with me, no matter what. I found it really cool and nice that he wrote that. I loved the fact that even though he was gone, his forever thirteen year old hand-writing still hadn't changed.

So after Mason had changed and cleaned up, we sat down and had a conversation.

"So, don't take this the wrong way, but who are you?"Mason asked as we sat down in the living room.

"I'm Megan. My dad owns the restaurant over there."

"Megan…that's a cool name."

"I don't like it. I've always wanted the name Kelsey."

"Hmm…Lemme ask you a question- if we don't know each other, at all, then why did you help me and bring me here, give me clean clothes and everything?"

"I was in the kitchen of my dad's restaurant, and I just happened to glance out the window, and saw you, and the other boys. I saw you were being pushed around, and a few times you fell. I knew that unless I did something, they wouldn't leave you alone. So I lied that my dad had prepared something for them, and yeah…here we are."

"Wow. Oh, hey, by the way my names Mason. Mason Crochetti."

"So, why were those guys beating you up?"

"I don't really know why. I was just walking by and they jumped me."

He lifted his hand and started rubbing the back of his head. "It hurt, too, haha."

"Haha got a headache?"

"Almost every morning." He said, still smiling.

"Hold on." As I left him to go to kitchen, I wondered what he meant by "almost every morning". But I decided to ignore it, and got two painkillers.

"WANT WATER TOO?"I shouted across the house.

"SURE!"

I walked back with glass of water and the medicine.

"Thanks. My head feels like a concrete block right now."

"Ha! Well this should help." I smiled at him.

So we talked for a while, sharing likes and dislikes, and surprisingly, we found we had a lot in common. We both loved playing guitar, and singing. We both loved going outside, and never had a passion to exercise.

"So, how old are you?"

"Seventeen. You?"

"Fifteen."

After we finished our conversation, we went back to the restaurant, and found that the boys had left.

"Well the guys are gone, so you're good for now."

"Thanks so much for everything. Can I get your number?"

"Oh, yeah sure. We should hang out sometime." I wrote my number on a piece of paper, and handed it to Mason, who folded it in half, and placed in the back pocket of his jeans.

"Yeah. I'll call you."

He started walking away, then turned around and walked back.

"And thanks for saving me. If you hadn't come, I would still be lying out there probably dead."

"Oh yeah, no problem. And just come by the house if you need someplace to go. Call me later."

"Cool. Thanks. See ya."

"Later, Mason."

As I was walking back to the house, I was trying to make sense of the whole incident that happened that morning. It all seemed like a dream. It didn't feel real- witnessing someone getting beaten up, helping them even if I didn't know the first thing about them, actually bringing them into my house, and giving my cell phone number.

Through the course of the day, I found myself thinking about Mason alot- thinking about what he's doing, where he is, and if I should even trust him. After all, I had just met this guy that morning, and I told him that if he ever needed a place to go, to just drop by! I wasn't sure why I was being so nice to him, but there was something about him that just made me so comfortable and at home. I kept replaying the conversation in my head over and over. Trying to remember every word he said and every move he made. I was in my room, lying down and about to fall asleep, when Fallin' for You by Colbie Caillat suddenly started playing from the small speakers of my IPhone. "I swear! I'm just about to fall asleep and then some bastard..."

"Hello?"I asked. My voice changed when I was tired, to a lower, monotone sort of murmur.

"Hey!" I recognized the voice, but couldn't think of whom it belonged to.

"Who is this?"I sighed, re-adjusting myself back on the bed.

"Guess."

"Tell me."

"Come on! Guess."

"Oh come on this ain't funny I hate playing twenty questions!"

"Guess." Was all the mysterious voice said.

"Fine. Do I know you?"

"I hope so! We just met!"

"…Mason…?"

"There ya go!"

"Haha hey! What's up?"My voice shot up to a regular tone, now happy and lively all over again.

"Nothing."

"Then why'd you call?"

"Just wanted to talk to you."

"Haha that's cool. So what'cha doin'?"

"Just lying on my bed, petting my dog."

"Yeah? Me to! What kinda dog you have?"

"Akita. His name is Vince."

"Vince?"

"Yeah. It's short for Vincent. I've had him for a long time. He was a stray Then he popped up on my doorstep one day and I took him." Mason explained.

"Aww. My dogs name is Jazz. Black lab with a tiny strip of white on her chest. Complete and total spazz. All I have to say. Haha."

He told me the boys' names that beat him up. JD was the boy with numerous tattoos. No one knew the reason why he was called that, and every one was afraid to ask. According to Mason, JD didn't even know his real name. The name 'JD' was just a nickname he got from his old gang leader. He kept that name, probably because everyone knew him by that, and he didn't even know what it abbreviated anymore. Anthony had the charcoal black hair and eyes the color of the midnight sky. He was given the nickname 'Ant,' so JD made sure he would never seem stronger than him, and to make sure Ant understood that he was not dominate in that gang. Blake was the oldest one in the group, who looked like his assumed brother Devon- the strongest and youngest of the group. Mason didn't know if they were actually brothers or not. He said that JD and Devon both did crack and smoked pot at least three times a week. On top of that, all of them smoked cigarettes.

We talked for a while, than decided to meet each other on the corner of Blue Jay Avenue to go for a walk around Luttrell.


	2. Decieved

**Chapter 2**

**Deceived**

After a week or so, Mason called me again. He sounded really worried and out of breath.  
"Hey!"  
"Hey! I need you right now!"  
"Why? Are you ok?"  
The noise in the background sounded like he was running. Mason wasn't exactly the kind of guy who would just 'go for a run'.  
"No. JD and his gang are back and they found me. They are chasing me and shouting that they are going to kill me." he said between gasps.  
"Ok well try your best to loose them, and then run to my house. You can hide here."  
"Thanks."  
"What street are you on?"  
"South Alfred."

"Ok so you aren't far. Run as fast as you can, I'll meet you half way and I'll distract them."

"Thanks."

"Welcome. Hold on and I'll meet you at…Royal Street!"

"Ok. Bye."

"Love you, Mason!"

"Love you to."

As I was running down the street to meet him, I replayed the conversation in my mind. _Holy crap. Did I say 'Love you'…__**out loud**__…? Oh but wait, he said it back, so it's probably ok. _I met up with Mason, and gave him my house key, so he could hide out there. My parents had gone to the Bahamas for two weeks, so he would be fine there. I walked leisurely down the street, and noticed that the gang was running up, and I saw that JD was wearing the same thing he was a few days ago, when I first saw him. He wore that open black vest with nothing under is, showing his tattoos, and tight black jeans with Chuck Taylors. I distracted JD, by pretending to just walk past, and then when he ran by, I shouted "JD?"He stopped and looked around, as I ran to him, pretending like I loved him and we had been friends forever. I ran up and threw my arms around his neck, while he and the others three guys had no idea who I was. I looked at him and said, "Oh JD, I haven't seen you in such a long time! I've missed you! Where have you been?"

"Um…who are you?"

"Megan! Don't tell me you don't remember me?"

"Well…I don't. So leave."

"But…we were like best friends two years ago. Then I moved and you stayed

here…well now I'm back…*sniff*"

"Oh! Megan! Uh...hey! Yeah…Haven't seen you in a long time. How's life, babe?"

Obviously lying…wow. 'See! Now you remember!"

"Yeah…sure."

"So why are you running?" Dang I was a good liar.

"We are chasing this short kid- Mason,"

"Why? What did he do?"

"He's supposed to give us the drugs we asked for, but he hasn't come through yet. We asked for 'em about…hmm…what do you think guys?"

Devon responded first. I could tell just by looking at him that he had been addicted for a while, and needed those drugs or he would go legitimately insane. He said, "Two months tops."

"What his last name? Maybe I know him." I was startled at what JD had told me. I thought to myself_, if Mason was giving those drugs to them, then he probably did them himself. Maybe he has an addiction that he hasn't told me about._

"Crochetti."

"That's a stupid name, huh? Haha."

"Ha I know. Well nice talking to you."

"Bye! Love you JD!" I gave him a hug and walked away.

"…love you…?" He responded, confused.

As soon as I turned the corner, I started running back to my house. _Grady, please tell me Mason is there. And just watching TV or something. Not anything weird. _And I totally lucked out. He was exactly where I thought he would be. On the couch, eating a sandwich. And not just any sandwich- his one and only favorite and the only thing he can make himself- peanut butter and jelly, and watching TV- SpongeBob SquarePants. I walked in, and he suddenly turned and hid something, but I decided to ignore it. I plopped down next to him, and without taking his eyes away from the screen for a nanosecond, all he said was, "Hey."

"Hey!" I said, laughing.

"What?" He smiled, finally turning his head to look at me with that adorable twinkle in his eye.

"Nothing. I just think it's kinda funny. The whole situation."

"Haha so how did ya distract them?"

"By totally lying."

"So this is the second time you've lied to save my butt, huh?"

"Yep. Haha I pretended I had known JD FOREVER. I hugged him and everything. It was hard considering I hate him."

'Wait why do you hate him?"

"'Cause this is the second time in less than a week he has been beating on you."

"Na you get used to it.'

"How long has this been going on?"

"If I'm seventeen, then…hmm maybe about five years."

"Well we're going to end this. Do you think you can take at least

one more punch?"

"Yeah. Depends. What you got on your mind?"

So I told him, and he agreed. We decided we would perform it the next time we saw them.


	3. Sunrise, Sunset

**Chapter 3**

**Sunrise, sunset**

The following Tuesday, while we were walking, I noticed JD and his gang coming the opposite way on the sidewalk.

"Ok, Mason, just follow my lead."

"Cool."

"JD!"

"Hey…?"

"Hey! I want you to meet my boyfriend!"

"Boyfriend?"Mason whispered.

"Shut up."I hissed.

JD looked surprised. "Mason!"

_Shit!_ I thought. _JD is really mad…this can't be good_.

"Yeah. That's his name. Do you know him?"

"Yeah but do YOU know who that is?"

"Yes. His name is Mason. We just met yesterday."

"Yeah. Mason Crochetti!"

Everybody has certain talents. Mine just happens to be reading faces. I'm good at it, and I can also usually get the slightest vibes from people. I could tell Mason was scared out of his mind, but he really didn't show it and I was proud of him.

I started making small talk to Blake, but kept an eye on Mason, while he and JD were face to face.

"Where are they?"JD snapped. His voice took on a gravely edge as he spoke.

"I don't have 'em."

"What do you mean you don't HAVE 'em?"

"I mean- I don't HAVE THEM!"

JD was mad, and started pushing Mason back, making threatening remarks and advancing towards him, but he held his ground.

"I don't think you understand, Mason, buddy."A sarcastic smirk started appearing on the corner of his lips, then faded as fast as it had begun. "You don't give us the drugs, you die."

He aimed a full-blown punch toward Mason's chest, who took it, just like he said he would. He ended up on the ground, and before I could run over there, JD had kicked him a few times, two times on his right side, and two times on his neck and head. These were no soft kicks, they were all out 'I'm-going-to-smash-you' kicks. That wasn't planned, so I started to get worried, but I quickly convinced myself that Mason could handle it- he's a strong guy. I ran over, standing between him and Mason.

"JD! What the heck was that?"

"What?"

"Why would you hurt him? Why would you do that?"

JD, Ant, Devon, and Blake looked at me, startled.

I looked over my shoulder and noticed Mason still hadn't moved from the position he landed.

Now I was really worried, and I realized this wasn't a game anymore. JD couldn't've hurt him **that**bad…right?

"You ever do that again, or even lay a finger on him, I will get you. And I'll know who it was."I said, my voice trembling beyond my control. I whipped out my switchblade and took a few threatening steps toward him.

"Do you like to see the sunrise, JD?"My throat was stinging now. I wasn't sure how long I would be able to talk until I fell apart into a million pieces. Mason still hadn't moved, not even a bit. There weren't any signs that he was breathing or even conscious, and now I was terrified.

"I guess."I noticed Devon started reaching into his back pocket of his jeans.

"Well do you want to see that tomorrow morning?"

"Sure…?"_ Phwwwt! _I knew that sound- one of them had a switch with them, and just brought it out. It was only a good sound when that switch, was mine.

"If you do,"I said, playing with the blade and looking at it. I looked up at him and stopped my hands from playing with the knife anymore. I glared up at him from behind my sidebangs, and then I snapped the blade to about 1 inch from JD's face. Even if he was startled, he did not flinch one bit. "Then LEAVE…NOW."

Just then a police car drove by. It didn't stop, but it did slow down significantly. The window rolled down, revealing a policeman who was readjusting his sunglasses as he watched us.

"Fine."JD said, gluing his eyes to the most-likely-familiar-Police Car. "But I would watch my back if I were you."

"But you aren't me. Now leave!"


	4. 700 Knives

**Chapter 4**

**700 knives**

i watched JD start to slowly turn and walk away. Blake and Ant followed him, but Devon stood there, with his knife, staring at me and only about 3 or 4 feet away, until JD called him to retreat. He stayed there and had not responded or even changed positions. JD called him again. Phwwwt! The sound of the switchblade retracting broke the silence, and Devon slowly turned and walked away.

As soon as they turned the corner, I fell apart. Frightened tears were falling from my eyes as I spun around only to see Mason still lying there, in the same position. "Oh what the heck did I do?"

"Mason…? Mason…? Are you ok? Please…I couldn't take this again…"I whispered, shaking him gently.

A few minutes later, after I had lost all hope, and while I was sitting there on my knees, my hands covering my face as I cried softly, he regained consciousness. He didn't open his eyes, but a soft moan escaped his lips.

"Mason…?"I managed to whisper and look up, and move my hands to be a few inches away from my tear-stained face. "Are you ok…?"

"I'm fine…what happened?"His voice was weak, just a whisper. His eyes were opening now, and quickly becoming very much alive and vivid, but he was still lying down, and he hadn't moved.

"Those guys ain't gona bother you no more." I said, putting my hands on my thighs and taking a deep breath as I tried to stop myself from crying.

"Really? What did you do? You killed them didn't you?"He said with a smile on his face and that same bright twinkle in his eye. Even now, he could make a joke. When I didn't answer, but just looked at him with a scared expression and watering eyes, his smile faded.

"What's this? Are you crying? …what did they do?"

"They really scared me, Mason."I started falling apart again. "When JD kicked you, it really hurt me and when-"

I totally fell apart. I couldn't speak because I was so scared.

"Come here."Mason said as he tried to sit up. He was hurt badly, but he cared enough to wrap me in his arms and with my head pressing to his chest, he began to calm me down.

_**Mason's Point of View**_

When she had relaxed enough, she stood up, and then helped me up. Again, I couldn't walk on my own, because JD punched me in the chest and kicked my ribs. I tried to be tough for Megan, because I knew she was really scared and shaken from what had happened, and I tried keeping my mind off the feeling of seven hundred knives stabbing me in the ribs, but I wasn't exactly successful. A few times while we were walking, Megan got a little choked up when she tried to talk, and silent tears like diamonds began to fall from her eyes again, beyond her control. I hated to see her cry. I couldn't stand it. Whenever she hurt, physically and mentally, I hurt, too, even though I had only known her for such a short time. I really wanted to give her a big hug and tell her everything would be ok, and that I'm fine, but that's not true. I would tell her that just to see her smile, but I couldn't lie to her. Not anymore than I already am.

_**Megan's Point of View**_

When we arrived at my house, we walked through door, and entered the living room. Mason fell on the couch in pain, clutching his side. I jogged to the other side of the four thousand square foot house, to the kitchen, got an ice pack, and ran back to Mason who was still in the living room, on the couch. I noticed he hadn't moved, and I began to worry again.

"You ok…?"

He slowly sat up and opened his eyes. "Oh yeah…ow…I'm good…"

"No your not."

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"Mason…"

He looked up at me, then looked away quickly, and whimpered, still holding his right side.

"Mason…what did he do to you?"

"What did he do to YOU?"

"I don't matter right now. What did he do? I wasn't able to see a whole lot."

"I don't really remember, but it was probably just the usual."

I could tell he was trying to act tough and pretend he wasn't hurting.

"Ok well what's 'the usual'?"

"Oh nothing. Him and his gang usually-"He started to sit up and turn to face me, but he froze and let a soft, pained moan escape his mouth, and gripped his side harder.

"Mason!"I said sitting straight up and leaning toward him.

"Oh, its nothing."He tried to convince me, but it wasn't working. He was breathing heavily, and was in obvious pain.

"Here."I said handing him the ice pack.

"I don't need that. I'm fine." He lied, averting his gaze.

"No your not. Now take it."I said forcing him.

"Oh wait. Before you take that..."

I stopped, and motioned him what I wanted him to do. He understood, took off his shirt and slowly stood up so I could look at his right side where he was gripping. He had four or five huge bruises on his side (which I wasn't sure if they were caused because he had such a strong grip or because of JD), and on his chest, where he was punched to the ground, he had 2 pool ball size bruises, which just hurt me to look at it. I don't know how this guy was still standing…

As I stood there in amazement, just staring at him- wondering how he could even stand, let alone breathe, he started laughing quietly. He laughed for a few seconds, than started a coughing fit, and bent over, supporting himself by his hands which were now resting on his knees. He lost his balance a few times but recovered it, and he was breathing heavily again, like he had just ran about three and half miles.

"Mason! What happened? Sit down right now!"


	5. Sweet Chocolate

**CHAPTER 5**

**Sweet chocolate**

He sat down and closed his eyes, trying to regain his balance and calm his breathing. I sat on the coffee table so we were face-to-face.

"Mason, I think you need to go to the hospital."

"No."He said, sitting forward and fiddling with and looking down at his hands, trying to avoid eye contact.

"Why not? You're seriously hurt!"

"No."Mason responded again, stronger this time. He did not lift his head, but glared at me with his sweet chocolate eyes immediately turning as hard and cold as stone behind his side bangs flowing across his forehead.

I had never been with Mason while he was angry, so I did not know what would happen or what he would do, but I decided to find out. Even if he was dangerous, I knew I could eventually calm him down.

"Yes you are. Now let's go."

"God Dangit Megan! How many times do I have to tell I ain't going?"

"You don't have to tell me. You're going."

"No. I'm not. And if your gona try and make me, I'm leaving."He started to stand up slowly, no matter how painful it was, and started walking slowly toward the door.

"Mason,"I said softly, walking over to him and gently pushing him with my hands back to the couch. I knew that if he was mad enough, he could do anything he wanted to me, and I wouldn't be able to stop him, even if he was hurt. He was so much stronger, more built, and even a few inches taller than me. My switch was across the house in the kitchen, so I had no protection if he did blow up. "…Please. You're hurt. Let me see your side again."

He was really irritated now. "Mmpfh…fine."

"Thank you."

I ran the back of my hand down his side, and ran my finger along all his ribs. It was something my father taught me. He used to be in a doctor the military when he was younger, and taught me a few quick, basic things to find out which bones were broken. Three of Mason's ribs were broken, two of them in the middle, and another

toward the bottom. One of them in the middle, and the one towards the bottom, were only broken once, but the other rib in the middle, was broken in four pieces. When I told him, he was acting like it wasn't a big deal, but I barely could tell he was actually upset and nervous. He started to talk, but he only got as far as, "What did J-"then he started a coughing fit, rested his left hand on his knee, with the other gripping his side. He lost his balance, and then fell forward into me, and I caught him, but he knocked me over, and we ended up on the floor. I smacked my head on the end table, and everything went black.


	6. Out Cold

**Chapter 6**

**Out cold**

_**Mason's Point of View**_

I fell into Megan, and she caught me, but that wasn't enough to stop us, and we still fell. She hit her head on the corner of the end table and now she's lying here, and I don't know what to do. I lifted her fragile, limp body to place her gently on the couch, but when I bent down to pick her up, a sharp intense pain shot through my ribs. I grabbed my side and began to lose my breath again. I sat down, caught my breath, and wondered what was wrong with me. Megan told me three of my ribs were broken, but I didn't know why I was losing my breath and my balance. I looked down at her, and she was just lying there. I bent down to try and pick her up again, ignoring the sharp stabbing pains running down my chest, and placed her on the couch. I left to go across the house, in to the kitchen, and get a cup of cold water to splash on her face. Kind of like in the movies. Finally found the cups, and poured the water, then started to walk back. I stopped and began to think of why I was doing this. Before I met Megan, I wouldn't do this for anyone. I wouldn't even consider helping them. But something struck me about this girl. She was sweet, but still tough when she needed to be. Whenever I get around her, I'm totally different. I'm nice, kind, and I actually let her look at my side. I let her run her soft fingers over my ribs, and didn't do anything. Any other girl and I would've been out of there as fast as possible. I began to wonder if I might…no. I've never loved anyone. I didn't even love my parents. Even when they were alive.

I walked back to Megan, shook her lightly, and called her name a few times. "Megan…? Come on wake up...Megan! Jesus Christ, wake up!" She still didn't respond, but I tried not to think anything of it. "She's probably fine. But what if she wasn't?" I thought to myself as I sat on the couch. "No, she's fine." I tried to convince myself, but it didn't work. I stood up, and splashed some of the water on her face. A few seconds later, she woke up. Her comforting brown eyes shot open, and she sat up, looking around like she'd never seen this place before. "Where am I…?" Her voice sounded nervous, and for some reason, angry. "At your house. Don't you remember?"


	7. Anticipation

**CHAPTER 7**

**Anticipation**

A few days later, Megan had recovered her most of her memory but had forgotten everything about what happened that day, and I don't remind her. Sometimes during the day, when we are together, I'll suddenly lose my breath and balance, and grip my side. It does scare her, and her gentle voice will say my name and ask me what happened. I'll tell her it's nothing, but that won't work for much longer.

_**Megan's Point of View**_

I don't really know why, but lately Mason has been acting a little weird. Sometimes, we will just be sitting on the couch watching TV at my house or something, and he'll shift positions, and then suddenly lose his breath and get a kind of dizzy, and put his left hand to his right side. His facial expression will change dramatically from relaxed to pained as his right hand comes up and covers his now closed eyes like he's trying to hide the fact that he's hurting. I always ask if he's okay, and if there anything I can do, but he just says 'I'm fine,' but it seems like he's trying to convince himself rather than me. The third time he used this excuse, I didn't buy it.

"Mason, something's obviously wrong. You didn't used to do this."

"Oh it's nothing. Seriously. I'm-"

He stopped, closed his eyes, whimpered, and gripped his side until his knuckles turned white, and all the tendons started to show with a harsh outline from his knuckles to his fingertips.

"Mason. I know you're hurt! It's obvious! What happened to you?"

"Nothing. Just forget about it."

"Mason…" I gave him a worried and scared look.

"Fine…" He told me the whole story. From me telling him the plan, to me falling and getting knocked out. He couldn't remember most of it, because he said JD had punched him, and kicked him in his side, then his neck, and finally his head.

"But…I don't understand. If this was about two or three days ago, you should be better by now…right?"

"Well…kinda…"

"What do you mean…'kinda'…?"

"I'm not exactly 'all right.'"

"Why...? What happened?"

"I have three ribs broken. Two in the middle, and one towards the bottom of the ribcage. One of them in the middle and the one at the bottom are only broken once." He softly touched his thumb to each bone as he spoke about it. "But the other…"

"What? What about the other one?"

"…its…" He took a deep breath. "It's broken in 4 pieces."

"How do you know? Have you been to a hospital yet?"

"No. You told me. Remember? You ran your fingers over my ribs and could tell which ones were broken."

"When was that? I don't really remember that."

"That's not good. It was only three days ago."

_**Mason's Point of View**_

Well, I told Megan that my ribs were broken, and she was really surprised. She asked to see them again, so I let her. I still don't know why I let her, but I do. I don't THINK I love her, but I just don't know. I'm afraid that if I kiss her, it will make things awkward. But times like when I woke up and she was right at my side, and when she was crying, I just wanted to kiss her so badly. I just hope she feels the same way about me. I decided to do something when I stood up.

"Before you do that,"I said as Megan started to run her angel-soft fingers over my ribs, leaving a trail of heat behind. She stopped for a moment, and looked up at me.

I put my hands on her waist and pulled her in slowly. She didn't fight me, and soon she was so close to me I could feel her breath on my lips. Our lips were just barely touching, gently at first. Fireworks exploded as we kissed. It wasn't just a kiss either- it was magic. Electricity shot down my spine as we our lips were together, and a sense of danger came down over me as we sped up, faster and harder. I moved my lips to her ear, and down the length of her neck. She pulled away for just a moment, then moved closer again. So close our bodies were like one, fused together by love. We didn't move apart, but stayed right where we were, gazing lovingly into each other's eyes. There was a silence, and I was afraid how she would take it.

"Mason…"she breathed. She averted her gaze, and was hardly even whispering.

She was breathing hard, and looked up at me through her side-bangs with her deep milk chocolate eyes. I lifted her chin and gave her a light peck on the lips.

"Kelsey…"

She slowly lifted her hand and stroked my cheek.

Over the next few minutes we stood there, cradling the other in our arms. We kissed a few times, but mostly stared into each other's matching brown eyes.

Eventually, we got to back on track. Megan tried to play it cool, but she didn't exactly succeed. I could tell she was just about to scream with excitement, and explode if she held it in any longer. I hoped that I wasn't blushing, but I could feel my face getting hot. I tried to calm myself down, but I couldn't. She ran her fingers over my ribs again, and noticed that the one broken in 4 pieces was now only 3. After she told me that, we both sat down on the couch, not talking. One of us would occasionally look over at the other, sometimes making eye contact, turning our faces a thousand shades of red. We were both still blushing hard, and couldn't believe that that really just happened.

Our thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of her home phone. I looked over and watched her answer it, and watched her facial expression change as that conversation went on between her and a mystery person. When she answered the phone, she was happy and cheerful, with a twinkle in her eye and a certain chirp to her voice, but when she hung up, her expressi-on had drained to a depressed face. That sparkling, glistening twinkle had faded away in to the indescribable darkness of her watering eyes. The tone in her speech had sunk to a monotone sound, and I could tell she just wanted to cry and cry, until her shining tears formed a river of diamonds. She sat back down on the couch, leaned forward, and cradled her head in her fragile hands, and covering her eyes, while her dark chocolate hair cascaded over her face.

"You alright...?"I said softly, scooting closer and putting my arm around her, trying my best to ignore the sharp pains in my chest. I leaned forward, looking at her, but she did not respond. The only response I received was a worried, trembling breath. I took her flawless dark brown hair and combed it behind her ear. "Come here. Are you crying again?"

After a few seconds of looking for some kind of sign of what had happened, I leaned back, and gently pulled her shoulder back with me. She didn't fight it, and slowly came back, resting her head on my chest. I still had my arm around her, holding her close to me as tears welled in her eyes and flowed down her cheeks. We sat there a long while, surrounded by the frozen silence, just waiting to be cracked by one of our voices.


	8. Grady's Entrance

**CHAPTER 8**

**GRADY'S Entrance**

It was 9:00, and we were both tired. We had done a lot that day: walked around Luttrell for a few hours, and by the time we saw JD and the others, it was around 5:00. We got back to the house around 6:30, and had been sitting there since 8:30. Megan had fallen asleep on my chest, cuddling against me. I sat there, on her couch, and wondered about this girl lying next to me.

I really didn't know much about her, only a few basic things like her favorite color, and the fact that she loved and had always wanted the name Kelsey. She played the guitar, and had an incredible sense of style. Her comedic timing was great, and she had the best sarcastic jokes. But besides that, I really didn't know too much about her. I didn't know if she had any siblings, and I didn't even know why she was crying. I decided to go look around the house, and see if I could find out anything.

Before I left Megan, I laid her down on her side, and placed a blanket over her. I walked upstairs, and saw a long hallway. To my right, were three doors, and to my left, there were two. I saw that one of the doors to the left had some colorful posters on it, and immediately assumed it was Megan's. I walked down the hallway, and opened the door.

This had to be Megan's room. It had purple and turquoise checked walls, with hardwood flooring, and an aquamarine carpet in the middle of the floor that was about 5x5. In the upper right hand corner, was her double bed, with a sky blue and purple polka-dotted bed spread. Her nightstand was right next to it, below the windows. On her nightstand she had her amplifier, a red Micro-Cube from Roland, and a pink lava lamp. In the upper-left hand corner, she had a clear suspended bubble chair, with at least fifteen vivacious multi-colored pillows. She had a full-length mirror next to her Black Godin and Acoustic guitars. Next to the door, she had her bookcase, which had a few reading books, but they were mostly guitar books and little treasures. She had a desk, but it looked new, and Megan wasn't the kind of person who would work at a desk, so I assumed it wasn't used much. On it, she had a picture of her and her brother. They looked like twins, and I was going to ask her about it, until I read the writing on the bottom of the frame. 'Grady- 1986 – 1999' Right after I finished looking at the picture, and placed it back on the white and spotless desk, something from her bookcase fell. It was a little golden retriever statue. Somehow, the delicate figurine had moved across the shelf on its own, and fell to the floor. The noise from the impact made a shattering sound, which made me jump as I turned around to see what had happened. "Uh…that was weird…"I said out loud to no one in particular. "What was that…?"I whispered to myself as I bent down to pick up the glass pieces of the now-broken statue.

When I had picked up all the shards of glass, I looked around the room, ready to go back down stairs. Something moving out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. The picture frame. I stood there in sheer terror, watching the picture slowly slide away from its original place, to a new one around four to five inches away. "…I'm gonna go down stairs now…"

I decided not to say anything about the events that had just occurred. I left her room, and walked back down stairs, to find Megan still asleep on the couch, in the same position. I started to lift her up, but instead I decided to step outside and have a smoke, just to have one and calm myself down before I went to sleep. About ten minutes later, I came back inside. I lifted her up, and placed her where she had been before- laying on my chest, snuggling against me. It was now 10:00, and I was extremely worn out. I thought I heard somebody walking around and a teenage boy calling my name a few times, but I convinced myself that I was just imagining it, so I ignored it and fell asleep.

A few days later, she finally told me why she had been crying that night. While Megan's parents were in the Bahamas, they went out for a drive to go have dinner at an extremely fancy and expensive restaurant. They had their dinner, and were returning home around the time 11:30. Unfortunately, a man in his late twenties had decided to have a little too much to drink, and then drive himself home. The two cars collided, and the next day, Megan got a phone call from the hospital, announcing that her parents were dead. This wasn't only the tragic death of her parents which would cause my best friend and rescuer great suffering, but she had to continue the restaurant business, as well as pay the bills, clean the house, and keep up her school grades. That left little time for me and her to talk and see each other, so our relationship suffered. We soon were not talking at all.


	9. Don't Go

**Chapter 9**

**Don't go**

It was the first day of March, Megan and Mason hadn't talked since the beginning of December. JD and his gang attacked her again, with switchblades this time, but Mason was not there to help her. Megan was seriously hurt, with cuts and bruises all up and down her arms and legs, even a few on her face, and her collarbone was broken, but she refused to go to the hospital. If she had gone, she would've fallen behind on the business, bills, and housework.

Now, Megan was seriously depressed since she had dropped out of school to take care of everything. She didn't know what to do anymore. She walked to Mason's apartment building, and walked up the 16 flights, to the roof. She boosted herself onto the ledge, and looked out at the setting sun with all the beautiful colors surrounding it. Rose magenta; orange twilight; tropical ocean blue; lavender light; deep violet. Silent tears trickled down her soft cheeks and left a glistening trail behind as she whispered, _'Mason…' _

She stood there a long time, deciding if she should go or not. A few people, who looked like ants had called the police, and a few had called the ambulances. By the time the ambulances came, there had to be at least a hundred people looking up at her and held back by DO NOT CROSS tape.

_**Mason's Point of View**_

I was in my apartment, sitting at the bar with a glass in my hand when I heard the sirens shattering the silence, and shooting into my open window. I glanced out and saw all the people looking up at the sky, and I wondered what was going on. I decided to go down and find out. When I got down the two flights of stairs, I asked a policeman who was standing there still staring up at the sky what was going on. The policeman responded with telling me that a teenage girl was standing there on the ledge of the roof, and they weren't sure what she was doing. He didn't look at me the whole time, so I looked up, and recognized the girl, but couldn't remember what her name was, or where I saw her last. Even if I didn't know her, I couldn't let her jump. I ran up nine flights of stairs, and then paused for a brief moment. I had been trying my best to ignore the pain in my side until now, but that wouldn't be an option any longer. I never went to the hospital like Megan had told me to. Megan…I hadn't talked to her in such a long time, and missed her terribly. "Wait a minute…Megan…" I whispered to no one. "Megan! That's who's on the roof! Don't jump! Megan, wait!…please…" I told myself, as I ran up the remaining seven flights of stairs, faster this time.

When I finally arrived at the top of the building, I saw her still standing there, on the ledge. She was standing straight up, feet shoulder width apart, just staring out into the newly-born twilight sky. She didn't notice me when I started running toward her. I whispered over and over,"Don't jump…Please don't jump…"

Megan heard footsteps coming behind her. Footsteps, breaking through the air so cold and so calm.

"Mason…?" She whispered softer than a feather falling to the ground, still not turning around. "No. Of all times he wouldn't come now. He'll never come. No one cares…not even Grady…" She said to herself, whispering even softer, if possible. She was just lifting her foot to step off the edge as someone put their strong hands on her small fragile hips and caught her as she began to fall. They brought her back onto the safe floor of the roof, away from the ledge. They turned her around, only to look at a familiar face.

"MASON!" She screamed as she threw her arms around my neck.

"Megan! What are you doing? You could've killed yourself!" I said as I hugged her back, resting my head on hers.

"I know…"

"Never do that again! You scared me so bad…"

We stood there along time, hugging and enjoying being with each other. It had been so long since we last talked, and missed the other terribly.

"Stay here. I'm gona shout down and tell everybody down there you are ok."

"Ok…"She said, quietly crying. I could see she was still really upset, but I didn't say anything just yet. I was just happy I got up there in time to save her and that we were both together again.


	10. Grady's Revenge

**Chapter 10**

**Grady's Revenge**

The way our house is set up, as soon as you walk through the front door, you see the TV on the left wall, with the couch about two or three meters away from that, and the coffee table in the middle. With two chairs on the sides of the couch. Behind the couch, about maybe six yards away, are the stairs, facing the door.

Mason still hasn't told me anything about the drugs he had given JD and his gang. He keeps lying to me about if he has anything to do with them or not. He always refuses, and tells me he doesn't even know where to get them. Well, I know that's not true. A few days ago, he left his white jacket at my house. I lifted it up to place it on a hangar, and noticed that it was pretty heavy for that size of a jacket. I looked in the pockets, and he had three packs of Camel cigarettes and a lighter. He also had a bottle of Advil, which I found slightly odd. I called Mason, and told him I had his jacket and invited him over.

About fifteen minutes later, he walked through the door. He never knocked anymore, which didn't bother me to much. I did find it a little odd that some mornings I would wake up about 8:30, and he would just be sitting there, on my couch, eating Lucky Charms and watching some crime show, NCIS or CSI- I could never tell the difference. Anyway, I gave him his jacket first, but held on to the cigarettes and lighter.

"Mason?"

"Yup."

"What are these?" I said holding out the Camels and lighter in my left hand, raising my eyebrows expectantly.

"Oh, those are just my…oh…"

"Yeah. 'Oh,' is right. Why didn't you tell me you were smoking?"

"I don't know…I just started a little before we first met."

"Mason. That was six months ago. You couldn't tell me for six months?"

He averted his gaze, and sighed. "No. I was scared that you wouldn't talk to me anymore if you knew I smoked, but I can't stop. I only smoke three times a day. Its not like I have three packs a day."

"Yeah that's true. But if you don't stop, you could get up to that point of smoking two or three packs a day."

Mason just avoided all eye contact, and silently wished to become invisible. To escape this world, and no longer be here. No longer sitting here, with me.

"Even if you were scared, I would rather you tell me than hide it. I can help you stop this. 'Cause it doesn't seem horrible now, but if you ever want to sing or even live to be seventy-five and older you have to quit right now."

"Yeah, but you don't know what its like!"

"Yes, I do." I was trying to stay calm, for my sake, and Mason's.

"No, you don't!" He was frustrated. He got up, and walked to the other side of the coffee table, facing me and the stairs, the TV behind him.

"Mason, listen to me. I do. Just trust me."

"Ok how do you know than. Tell me."

I took a huge sigh, and told him the reason.

"Because I smoke to."

"Psh! No you don't!"

"Mason, my parents just died. I needed something to 'help' me."

As soon as I finished that sentence, Mason quickly jerked his head to look up at the top of the stairs. He suddenly got a look of sheer terror on his face.

"Mason? What's wrong?" I asked him, a little scared. I turned around and saw nothing at the top of the stairwell. It was just like normal. I couldn't see anything except for a little portion of the beige wall.

Mason still hadn't answered me, or even moved his head or eyes. He was just frozen. All the color had drained for his face, and suddenly, out of nowhere, he grabbed the cigarettes and the lighter, and ran out of the house as fast as he could.

I ran after him, and eventually caught up with him at the corner of Rose and King Street. I tackled him, bringing him down and almost face-planting into the pavement. He caught himself with his hands, and he also caught me because I was right on top of him.

"Megan! What the hell was that?"

"What was with you stealing your things back and running out in the street like that, huh?" I almost yelled, pushing him back.

"What? You didn't see that thing at the top of the stairs?"

"What thing at the top of the stairs? I looked and there was nothing there!"

"You didn't see it?…y-you didn't see anything…?" Mason said at a normal volume, calming down.

"Nope. Nothing. It was just an empty space."

"Nothing at all?"

"Why? What did you see?"

"It was a teenage boy, like around our age. Probably 15 or so. He had skinny jeans on, white jeans, but they were splattered with blood. He had a t-shirt on, and it said my name on it- Mason Crochetti."

"Hold on, Mason. Calm down. What did he look like? Like his hair and his facial features."

"He had dark brown hair. Maybe as dark as yours. He had my kind of hair, with the side bangs, and hair covering his ears. He had black eyes, like a Great White Shark's eyes. He had the kind of face you have- same eyes, same nose, mouth, face shape and everything."

"Oh…you don't know how extremely sorry I am to hear to you say that…"

"Why? Have you seen him?"

"Yeah. That's my twin brother."

"What the hell do you mean?" Mason said, taking a cigarette from the box, lighting it, than offering me one. I took it, with hope that it would calm my nerves.

Grady is the reason I didn't have many friends anymore. I would make a friend, then they would come over, and Grady would come out. Sometimes, they would see him multiple times, and he would haunt them until they left me alone and weren't my friend anymore. But he wasn't always like that. For a long time after he was gone, I would hear footsteps in my room at night. Usually at 11:37 exactly. It did scare me the first few times, but then I would call his name, and he would respond. He sounded just the same as he used to. Same low, but not monotone voice.

Sometimes, he would even show himself. I always had my door closed at night, and it would swing open at 11:37 or 11:53 at night. I wouldn't hear or see anything, until I said, "Come on in, Grady. I can talk for a while." Just like I always used to do when we were little. After I said that, he would appear. Just like normal. He looked sort of like a hologram- partially see-through, but he would walk in, and sit on my bed next to me. He didn't look like a demon, like Mason had described him to be. He was just normal. Like someone you would see on the street. Nothing too special about him- just a regular teenage boy. He would come into my room, and listen while I told him about my day and what had happened. He was always so patient with me, and would have a legitimate conversation. He really hadn't changed much since the accident. He told me every night that he couldn't stay to long, because his friend, Mark, couldn't save his seat in Purgatory for to long. And if he did stay a little over the limit, God would sell it off to someone else, and he would have to start over in the long, torturous cleansing process. Grady could only stay for maybe two hours tops, but sometimes, if he left early one night, then the next night, he would have those two hours plus the time we didn't use the night before. Sort of like the roll-over minutes on some cell phones. But Grady promised that once he got into Heaven, then he would come down and stay as long as I wanted him to every night.

Grady didn't come to much anymore these days. A few months ago, he told me he was about to enter the most rigorous part in the cleansing process, which was Transinolation. I didn't totally understand it, but he tried to explain it to me. It was the certain section in Purgatory which was the worst part, because God didn't tell you when you would get out. Plus the whole time you were in there, you couldn't visit your loved ones, or converse with another soul. This was one of the levels of Purgatory when you felt extreme physical pain. Grady compared it to when he had fallen off his moped, landed on his head and got run over. Also referred to as, 'The Accident.' He said it was at least four hundred fifty times worse than that.

Mason and I sat there for a while, smoking our cigarettes, trying to make sense of what had just happened less than fifteen minutes ago. We were both scared, but for different reasons. I was scared because I didn't want Mason to run away like all my other friends had when Grady came out, and Mason was afraid of what this 'demon' would do to me. He had never met Grady and I never brought him up. I can't talk about him with anybody because I would remember all the fun times we had, and then tears would start rolling down my cheeks. So Mason had no idea what that thing that scared him was. I think at least. I've never told him anything about Grady, or even brought up his name, so I don't think he knows anything.

During that half hour of sitting against the building in the middle of town, we smoked at least five cigarettes each. By the time we were calm again, the smell of smoke was noticeable from at least two blocks away. When we were totally done, and started walking back, Mason looked and me with a worried expression and said,

"You know, maybe you should come over to my place tonight. I don't think you should be in that house alone."

"Why? What's wrong with my house?"

"Megan, do you even remember what happened about four hours ago?"

Dang. I checked my phone to see what time it was. 8:30. When I had tackled him earlier that afternoon, it was 4:30. We had been sitting in town for four hours…Mason was right. Good Lord…

"Mason, I told you it was just Grady. My twin. He's nice, don't worry."

"Yeah, and maybe he is, but I just don't feel right letting you sleep in a haunted house."

"No, I'll be fine. It's been 'haunted' for about four years now."

"Please? Come on, this just doesn't feel ok."

"I'll call you if I need you. Don't worry about me. Please."

"Fine. But if that devil comes out again, call me at the first sign of him. Promise?"

"Yeah. I guess."


	11. Expectations

**CHAPTER 11**

**Expectations**

That night Megan stayed in her house, alone. Alone, until 11:37 PM that is…

Her door swung open at 11:37, and she told Grady to come in, and that she could talk for a while, assuming he would show himself. Well, he did just that, but he wasn't exactly the Grady she was expecting. He stood there, in her doorway, looking exactly the same as Mason described him earlier that day. White blood-sprinkled skinny jeans, with a t-shirt on, that simply said in big bold red dripping letters, 'DEATH.'

"Grady?" Megan screamed at the sight of him. He did not say a word, but his totally pitch black eyes darker than the bottom of the ocean stared her down as he took a few, slow, threatening steps toward her.

When Grady was ten feet away from her bed, she grabbed her cell phone and her switchblade, and ran out of the room, screaming as loud as she could, slamming the door behind her. But, that didn't stop him. Since Grady was a spirit, he could walk through anything. Walls or doors, wood or concrete. He came through the door, and followed Megan down the stairs, into her kitchen. He walked slowly, terrifyingly slow, and eventually came into the kitchen, where Megan was trying to calm down. She heard him coming, **thump**…**thump**…**thump**…**thump. **She tried to open the back door, but it was locked. She found the key, and tried to unlock it, but she couldn't. For some reason, the door wasn't able to open. "Dammit! Dammitdammitdammit dammitdammit!" She turned to start running toward the front door, but she turned only to see Grady right behind her, just three meters away.

"Grady! Stop!" And he did, he didn't look phased, but he did look possessed.

"Grady, what are you doing? You didn't used to be like this!" Of course, he didn't answer. He grabbed a butcher's knife from the drawer, and lifted it to eye-level, and smiled. He smiled, and his beady black eyes turned blood shot red while tiny white dots for pupils. Megan ran out of the kitchen, down a long dark hallway, toward the Family Room. She slammed the door behind her, and locked it thinking that would stop him. She still had her switch and cell phone, so she brought both of them out, and flipped her blade out for her own protection. She dialed Mason's number, and called it, hoping that he would pick up. He eventually did, as soon as Grady slammed the door open.

"Mason! Please help me! Grady came back and he has a knife!"

"Ok hold on! I'll be right over!"

"Mason! Wait! Just keep me on the phone! Please! I don't want to be totally alone here!"

"Okay, okay, that's fine. I'm leaving my house now. Try using the front door!"

"Ok I will! If I can get there! I'm in the family room and sort of in a sticky situation right now though!" I said as I stood at one end of the couch, Grady at the other. He started walking toward me, and when he was only a few feet away from me, I ran out of the room and slammed all the doors possible. I jumped over the couch, onto the coffee table, and over to the door. I unlocked the door, and swung it open. It worked, and I screamed, forgetting Mason was still on the phone. "What?" Mason said, sounding worried. "I got the door open!"

"Nice! Now run into Luttrell and I'll meet you somewhere. I'm almost at your house."

I met Mason about a block from my house, and we walked around Luttrell for a while, just talking. I told him the whole story of what had happened earlier that night, and he listened intently.


	12. One Drink

**CHAPTER 12**

**One drink**

After an hour of walking around Luttrell, we had smoked fourteen cigarettes and it was now 3:30 AM. We headed back to Mason's apartment, and went inside. It was a fairly clean condo, with an amazing view of Luttrell and Nashville beyond. The walls were a deep blue and he had hard wood flooring. His living room was the size of my room- about 15x14. There was a black velvet couch on one wall, with the flat-screen 48'' SONY TV lining the opposite one. To the right of the TV, he had 2 electric guitars- an Original Fender Stratocaster in electric blue with black bridges, and a Fender Flying-V in black, with orange bridges and switches. And next to these, he had two more guitars- Acoustic and Classical. He had a whole mess of wires going every which way, and beside those wires was a huge 4x4 foot Roland Amplifier. He had a few pictures of his brothers and himself on the walls, along with a few of him with his dog. Off to the left of the main room, was a home studio, where Mason had recorded a few guitar melodies. Another room to the left of the TV was his bedroom, which consisted of a double bed, his desk, guitar repair equipment, guitar cases, and his dresser. The kitchen was connected to the living room by a bar, with every kind of drink I knew and more.

Mason's parents, because they were straight from Italy, born and raised there, did not recognize or understand the value of a drinking age. Mason told me that since the time he was thirteen, his relatives had given him alcohol for his birthday and special occasions. His parents died when he was only fourteen, and he decided to live on his own from then on. His brothers were taken from him and put in a foster home in another state, so he had lost touch with them over the years. None of his relatives knew that his parents were killed, or that he had no idea where his siblings were, and they kept sending different wines, beers, tequilas, and whiskeys, plus every other drink ever invented.

Even after the seventeen cigarettes we had just had in the past hour, we were still nervous and a little shaken.

"Whenever I'm a little nervous or stressed, I always have a drink. It doesn't matter what it is, I just have one or two." He his best to hold his gaze, even though he was obviously lying. "So I'm gona have one now. You want anything?"

"Mason. I just turned sixteen."

"And I turned eighteen about six months ago. So?"

"I can't drink! I'm not twenty-one!"

"It's just me. It's not like anybody else is here."

"…Fine. But just one drink."I said, know this was a bad idea, but still sitting down at the bar while Mason walked behind to get the drinks.

_**Mason's Point of View**_

Today is the first day I've ever seen Megan smoke. Usually when people start, they cough and choke. But she took long drags on those cigarettes like they were nothing. It's not just that, but she had at least three in the past twenty-four hours. She smelled of smoke which didn't bother me, because I actually kind of liked that scent now. I had been smoking for a little over a year now, and I had grown accustomed to that smell.

After a little convincing, Megan finally took the drink. I had given her a beer, Land Shark to be exact, and she loved it. I had one myself, and thoroughly enjoyed it, as I always did. I was surprised at how fast Megan finished her drink. She was almost done about the same time as me which was pretty impressive, but I decided not to say anything about that or the fact that she said she would only have one, and she was starting on number two.

"So how ya feelin'?"

"Better than I was…five hours ago!"She said, checking the clock behind her. It was now 5:00, and I found that sort of ironic considering the phrase, 'It's 5'o'clock Somewhere.'

We made some small talk here and there, not getting into any topic that was to intense. We just talked about her restaurant, and who's working there, what kind of people go there and things like that. All of the sudden, to bring up a new topic, Megan asked me about relationships.

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Nope. Why?"I asked as I tilted my head back to take one of the last gulps of my fourth beer.

"Oh, no reason. I was just wondering."

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

"No. Why?"

"Oh, I was just wondering."I replied, with a smile on my face as I finished my drink and brought out another two- my fifth and her fourth. _Geez, Mas, your moving pretty slow on these drinks here, buddy._ I started on another one. She smiled back at me, which looked as if to tell me, _"Oh fine, I guess I'll have another!"_ as she reached forward and grabbed the open beer bottle.

"Would you consider having a girlfriend younger than you?"

"Course. Why not?...Would you consider having a boyfriend older than you?" I asked her as I downed half of the drink I just brought out and started fifteen seconds ago. She looked at me in amazement as I drank, then when I put the bottle back on the bar, she stared at that. I finally waved my hand in front of her face to snap her out of it.

_Oh please, that's nothing. _I thought, making sure that thought stayed in my head.

"Oh! Back to the question. Sure. It would depend on who the guy was though. So yeah, but only if he was two years older." She smiled at me as she slid her beer back and forth on the tile.

I smiled back at her and gazed into her eyes. This girl, sitting in front of me, was really everything I ever wanted. I had always loved girls who were a little shorter than me, with brown hair and brown eyes that matched mine. I never really went for the girls who wore all the make-up and only cared about clothes, but rather the tomboyish type that had some common sense. I liked the kind of girl who didn't care if they broke a nail, or accidentally ruined their new shoes. A few months ago, before I had met her, I began to doubt that I would ever find someone to love. But, now I did, and it was amazing.

There was a long silence, and I decided to take a risk. I walked out from behind the bar, and sat down next to her on the other barstool.

"How would you like to be my girl?"I asked, quietly. I was nervous of what she would say, even though I knew it was a yes.

"Yes. I'd love to…"She responded so softly I could hardly hear her. She smiled at me with her warm coffee eyes. We moved closer, so close we could feel each other's breath tingling our lips. We closed our eyes, and pushed forward. A hot electric spark shot down my spine. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and my hands around her waist, pulling myself toward her. I stood up, still kissing her. We separated, but only for a moment. We looked in to each other's eyes, and she showed her contagious smile, which I soon caught. I rested my head on hers, and whispered, "I love you…" as I kissed her forehead. We kissed again, and the whole world seemed to shrink down to one main point- us.


	13. Answers

**CHAPTER 13**

**Answers**

It was now 6:30, and the sun was just barely starting to rise. Megan had just finished her seventh drink, and was a little tipsy. She had almost fallen off the barstool a few times, so she was currently sitting on the couch at my request. I sat down next to her, and she leaned against me, so I put my arm around her. We sat there for a while, just staring off into space, when I realized, that you can't lie when you're drunk, so why not have a little fun?

"Hey, Megan?"

"Yes?" She hiccupped. Totally drunk.

"Who do you love?" I said, gazing down at her.

"Mason…Mason…CROCHETTI! That's his name…*hiccup*. You got hiccups." She said, looking up at me and giggling.

"How much do you love him?"

"You know what? *hiccup*…your mind *hiccup* cannot comprehend how much *hiccup* I love him…" She told me, sitting up, turning to face me, and pointing her finger at me.

"Really? Then you must really like him. What does he do to make you love him?" I asked her, acting like I had never met this guy before.

"Well…" she said, putting her finger to her chin and thinking. "I don't know! He's just nice and when he hugs me I feel like my feet are lifting off the ground and I'm flying! WEE!" she screamed, almost falling off the couch and hitting her head, but I caught her just in time. "Woah, careful there!"

"Hehe! Whoopsy Daisy! …I think I'm gona have another beer!" She declared as she started to walk toward the bar. "No you don't! Those are for me, little missy!" I said, getting up and walking toward her, then turning her around and guiding her back to the couch. "Awww why not Masy-Wasy?"

"Don't call me that."

"Awww your no fun!"

"Hey Megan!"

"Oh! That's my name! What?"

"Do you know a guy named, Mason Crochetti?" I asked her, trying to get back on track.

"Why, yes. I happen to know of this fellow you call Crason Machetti!" I laughed so hard at that I almost fell off the couch, myself.

A few minutes later, I got control of myself. "Well can you tell me what he looks like?" I asked her. This couldn't get any better.

"Well let me just tell you Mister dude person! He has adorable sweet brown eyes, and when they look at me I just totally melt." She said, with a flip of her wrist. "His hair…hmm…I don't exactly know how to describe it…he has side bangs and it's kind of like my hair color. He has hair that's like your style." She said, hiccupping in between every three words. I love this girl. I started laughing at the last sentence she stated because she said it with such confidence. So she proceeded to tell me what she thought of me, while I finished off about five more beers, making myself a little off as well. The earlier it was in the morning, the more attractive she seemed. We looked into each other's eyes, and leaned in closer. We kissed and kissed, until the electric shocks practically paralyzed us. So, she laid down on the couch, and I got on top of her. We kissed, becoming more intoxicated: with the beer, and with each other. We continued until the sun came up, and we did some pretty crazy stuff. We got pretty drunk, and essentially finished off more than me and some of my old buddies could ever do. Around 7:00, we started going too far. We were drunk though, and we had no control over where we were headed anymore. I took off my shirt and hers, and she unbuttoned my jeans. We laid back down on the couch, and she was on top this time. I don't totally remember what happened after 7:30 that morning, but I do remember that what we did, was amazing...

or some kind of sound that would help me understand what she was doing. I heard her light footsteps walking around and behind the bar. I closed my eyes, and listened. I heard her softly counting, and I assumed she was counting the empty bottles, than she looked down at herself, and remembered. "Mason?"

I took a deep breath, then responded. "…yeah…"

She lifted my chin up, stared into my eyes, and asked, "Are you ok?"

I took another deep breath, sat back and moved my head to avoid her stares. "Yeah. Why would you ask that?" My voice took on a different tone as I spoke.

"Because you acting weird. Like your hiding something…"

"I'm not. How am I acting weird?" I was still avoiding her stares.

"I don't know…why won't you look at me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Imean why won't you look me in the eye?"

"Oh…um…no reason…" A nervous feeling came over me and I tried, but I couldn't shake it for some reason. I was starting to get scared.

"Mason!"

"What?"

"Look at me!"

"Why?" I asked, becoming increasingly nervous. "Man, what was up with me today? This has never happened before…" I thought to myself.

"Please…"

I sighed. I slowly turned my head to look at her. I sat forward and leaned on the bar, finishing off the last bit of my drink. I looked at her expectantly, waiting for a response. After a few seconds of waiting, I motioned for her to get me another beer. She did, and then spoke up.

"Now that you're actually looking at me and have your drink, can I ask you a few more questions?"

"Yeah, I guess. What you got on your mind?"

"How many times a week do you drink?"

"Hmm…around seven." I answered after a moment, taking a drink.

"Ok, how about a day?"

"Oh…three or four, but that's on a good day. If it's a bad day, maybe five times."

Megan looked really surprised. "How many-" Her voice broke, and she moved her right hand to her stomach, and the left clung to the bar.

"Are you alright?"

"Ugh…I'm not sure…I'll be okay…" She took a few deep breaths, and I had a really bad feeling something happened to her last night, and I was responsible. "Oh my gosh…alright…I'm okay. Anyway," She still held her hands in the same position, though her left hand seemed to relax a bit. She tried to take a few deep breaths but they came in short, shallow gasps. She stayed in the same position, and even though she was still out of breath, she struggled to continue. "How many drinks a day?"

"Oh…I don't know…honestly?" I started to really worry about her.

"No, Mason, I want you to lie to me."

"Fine. Now you won't judge me on how many I have, right? Like you'll still talk to me and stuff?"

"Yeah. Of course!"

I sat back and took a swig of the Land Shark, but only to stall. I tried to calm myself down, but it didn't work. I averted my gaze and swallowed the last bit of my beer. I finally responded, "Five or six."Another lie.


	14. Too Many

**Chapter 14**

**Too many**

I woke up the next day lying on the couch, with Megan right on top of me, her head resting on my chest, her feet just shy of mine. I had not opened my eyes yet, because I knew that right now, was the best I was going to feel all day. Last night wasn't the first time I've had too much to drink, and I'm positive it won't be the last. No, that won't come any time soon. I opened my eyes, and immediately noticed the sunlight pouring into my window and totally blinding me. It looked as if I was standing three feet away from the sun itself.

"Ahh!"I yelled, covering my eyes to protect them from the vivid sunlight. You'd think I'd be used to it by now, but I wasn't, and after I recovered, I lightly moved Megan off of me, and toward the black velvet cushions. I turned around.

On the bar, there were fourteen bottles, and next to me on the coffee table, there were seven. I sat up, and put my old blue jeans back on. "Oh God, please tell me that we did _not _have twenty-one drinks…" I whispered to myself. I turned back around, and faced the couch. I sat back down, covered my eyes and tried to block out the sound of my head pounding in my ears. After a minute or two, I noticed Megan hadn't moved at all. I moved my hand ever so slightly, so the sun was still blocked, but I was able to see and looked down at her. She was now on her side, positioned comfortably between where I was laying and the back of the couch, a blanket covering her as she breathed softly. I started to worry about her. As far as I know, she had never drank before, so she probably didn't have the strength to hold down seven or eight beers. This wouldn't be a good day. I remember my first hangover- I was upset because it was the first day after my brothers had been taken away from me, so I was all alone in the house for the first time. And it just happened that one of my relatives sent a bottle of booze that day, and guess what I did the rest of the day. Needless to say, I didn't wake up to happy the next day. That was four years ago, so since then I've built up the strength to have more and more drinks. But Megan never drank before, and she just downed seven Land Sharks, so she won't be to happy today.

About an hour later, at 2:00, she woke up. I was sitting up at the bar, in front of all the bottles, cradling my head in one of my hands and slowly working on a beer. I heard her sit up, and stretch. She moaned and I could tell that she just noticed the sunlight pouring into the window. "Ugh…what's wrong with me today…? Oh hello…"She spoke softly as she mumbled to herself. I wanted to respond, but my head felt like a huge concrete block, and I felt like my neck would snap in half if I moved it even the slightest bit.My head was pounding as Megan put her shorts and her bra back on. She fell back onto the couch. "Mason…?" She whispered, after a few minutes. She must've just noticed me. "Yeah…"I answered weakly, not turning around or even moving a tiny bit. From what I could hear, she had stood up and was walking over to me, slowly. A few seconds later, I felt her angel-soft arms sneak around my bare chest and her head resting on my shoulder, leaning against my neck. I felt her chest against my back, and a sense of comfort mixed with a touch of danger rested upon me. "Can I ask you a question…?" She was barely even whispering, and she had a slight worried edge to her voice. After a minute or two, I answered, but my voice wasn't exactly as strong as usual. "…yeah…"

"…what happened last night…?"She asked softly. Her voice was even weaker than mine now, which was really surprising.

"…alot."I sighed, but yet a slight grin came on my lips as I lifted my head up just enough to take another sip from the beer in front of me.

"Good. I can't remember anything…so what did we do…?"She still had her arms around me, with her head resting on my shoulder. She watched me take a drink, and seemed to start remembering.

"Here," I said, holding the drink over my other shoulder. "Drink a little of this and maybe you'll remember." Megan let go of me and took the drink. She smelled it first, than drank some of it. I still hadn't turned around, and all I heard was, "Oh…" She placed it back in my hand, which was resting on my shoulder. "If you still don't remember, look at the bar, or even just yourself."

I didn't hear her, and wondered what she was doing. I sat there in the same position, with my head cradled in my hands, and waited for an answer or some kind of sound that would help me understand what she was doing. I heard her light footsteps walking around and behind the bar. I closed my eyes, and listened. I heard her softly counting, and I assumed she was counting the empty bottles, than she looked down at herself, and remembered. "Mason?"

I took a deep breath, then responded. "…yeah…"

She lifted my chin up, stared into my eyes, and asked, "Are you ok?"

I took another deep breath, sat back and moved my head to avoid her stares. "Yeah. Why would you ask that?" My voice took on a different tone as I spoke.

"Because you acting weird. Like your hiding something…"

"I'm not. How am I acting weird?" I was still avoiding her stares.

"I don't know…why won't you look at me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Imean why won't you look me in the eye?"

"Oh…um…no reason…" A nervous feeling came over me and I tried, but I couldn't shake it for some reason. I was starting to get scared.

"Mason!"

"What?"

"Look at me!"

"Why?" I asked, becoming increasingly nervous. "Man, what was up with me today? This has never happened before…" I thought to myself.

"Please…"

I sighed. I slowly turned my head to look at her. I sat forward and leaned on the bar, finishing off the last bit of my drink. I looked at her expectantly, waiting for a response. After a few seconds of waiting, I motioned for her to get me another beer. She did, and then spoke up.

"Now that you're actually looking at me and have your drink, can I ask you a few more questions?"

"Yeah, I guess. What you got on your mind?"

"How many times a week do you drink?"

"Hmm…around seven." I answered after a moment, taking a drink.

"Ok, how about a day?"

"Oh…three or four, but that's on a good day. If it's a bad day, maybe five times."

Megan looked really surprised. "How many-" Her voice broke, and she moved her right hand to her stomach, and the left clung to the bar.

"Are you alright?"

"Ugh…I'm not sure…I'll be okay…" She took a few deep breaths, and I had a really bad feeling something happened to her last night, and I was responsible. "Oh my gosh…alright…I'm okay. Anyway," She still held her hands in the same position, though her left hand seemed to relax a bit. She tried to take a few deep breaths but they came in short, shallow gasps. She stayed in the same position, and even though she was still out of breath, she struggled to continue. "How many drinks a day?"

"Oh…I don't know…honestly?" I started to really worry about her.

"No, Mason, I want you to lie to me."

"Fine. Now you won't judge me on how many I have, right? Like you'll still talk to me and stuff?"

"Yeah. Of course!"

I sat back and took a swig of the Land Shark, but only to stall. I tried to calm myself down, but it didn't work. I averted my gaze and swallowed the last bit of my beer. I finally responded, "Five or six."Another lie.


	15. 52 Bottles

**Chapter 15**

**52 bottles**

M_ason,' _Megan whispered, astonished. "You do know that if you drink too much, it can kill you."

"No, it can't."

"Yes, Mason. It can."

"So? Hey, I'm almost running on empty. Get me another one will ya?"

"No, I won't."

"What did you just say?"

"No."

"Oh come on, Megan. It's just a drink."

"No! If it's just a drink, deal with out one."

"Megan. Give it to me."

"Yeah? What if I don't?"

"Then you die. Now hand one over."

"I don't believe that you can go one day without a beer or any kind of alcohol."

"Psh, you wanna bet?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I do."

"How much, Kelsey?"I smiled, charming her. Maybe if I sweet-talked her enough, she would forget about the whole thing. The truth is, I'm not sure if I can go a whole day without anything. Since my brothers were taken away, I had had two or three drinks, than up to three or four, and so on all the way up to eight or nine. I didn't exactly tell her the truth, but she bought it anyway.

I have two reasons for why I drink so much everyday. The first one is, when I was younger, around eight or nine, my hands shook like crazy. So much more than any other kid I had ever met. My fingers would move beyond my control, and I couldn't stop them, not matter how hard I tried. When I was calm my hands shook. When I was tired they shook. When I was upset, the shook, but not too much. When I was mad, all hell broke loose.

Another thing I used to do was go hang with my friends at a skate park. I used to skate board a lot. Well, one day, when I was twelve, a few kids from another gang started picking on one of my buddies. The kids from my gang skated over and stood up for him. Me? I had a certain temper that was, well different. I skated over, and started talking trash to the leader of the rival gang. The leader turned around to face his gang and started making fun of me and the rest of us. I punched him in the back, he fell over, and that started the whole thing. He started to punch me, so I returned it, and we were soon going all out. There was only one kid in our gang of five, who could calm me down. He pulled me out, and smacked some sense in to me- quite literally, actually. We left that skate park, and never went back. Who was that one kid who could calm me down? Devon. We were like brothers back when we were younger. The rest of the gang was JD, Blake, and Ant and another kid named Jack.

Now, the two real reasons why I started drinking are because of my temper, and because of my hands. My temper was, and still is terrible. I just can't seem to control my behavior when I get mad. And my hands? They don't shake anymore.

"Don't try that sweet talk on me." She said, pointing a finger at me. "Thirty bucks that you can't go one day."

"Fine. If you win, I pay you $30. If I win…"

"If you win…then what?"

"Hmm…I don't know. I'll have to think about that one. Obviously, we are going to do this bet tomorrow." I told her, holding my beer in the air with one hand while the other rested on the bar. I took the three last gulps of the addicting drink and immediately wanted another one.

"Fine. But it can't be anything bad."

"Well, it ain't gona be good."I smiled as I tilted the bottle in my hands toward her. My head started feeling heavy again, but I ignored it. There was a long silence, and I started becoming a little dizzy. I put the empty beer down and put my hands over my eyes. A few seconds later, I opened them again, and my vision was blurred, then everything disappeared as I fell and hit the cold wood floor.

_**Megan's Point of View**_

"Mason!"I screamed as I ran around the bar, and knelt down next to him. I put my hand on his chest to feel if he was breathing, but he wasn't. I grabbed his wrist, and felt for his pulse, and after a few seconds of panicking, I found it. I stood and lifted him up to a sitting position, and placed him so he was leaning against the bar. That would help, and he would wake up soon. I stood there for a moment, deciding what to do now.

I turned around, put on my shirt, and began to count the beer bottles. "Ok, so there are seven on the coffee table, plus the ones that are on the window sill, so now we have nine. Now we add the ones that are hidden behind his guitars and amplifier, so now we have…fourteen! Fourteen plus those over on the TV the table is sitting on…so…sixteen. And the ones on his end tables. Good Lord, Mason! Nineteen already…no! Twenty-one! Hmm…ok let's go look in his room."I told myself. I took a few steps toward his bedroom, and my stomach hurt like it was about to explode. I wondered what the heck was wrong with it, than I remembered last night. I stood there a moment, and then stepped back and sat on the couch. _Did I really do that…? God, please tell me I didn't…please tell me this is just a bad dream or a weird hangover or…anything. But I don't have the time to deal that…_

A while later, I decided I would just suck it up, and deal. I got up, and walked in to Mason's room, ignoring the continuous piercing stomach pains. I began to talk to myself again, counting all the empty bottles. I've always found it easier to figure things out if I talk aloud, so that's exactly what I did. I walked into his room, and saw bottles **everywhere**. "Ok, I'm thinking somebody was lying to me…moving on. So anyway, I had counted twenty-one out there, and so let's start at his desk…good Lord…"It took me a while, and a few recounts, but I did it.

"Mason…I love you, baby, but you have to stop this…I'm at thirty-two by just looking at your desk alone.Ok, let's look in his guitar cases…"I unlatched the first one, and I was glad to see that this one was empty. I dragged out the second case from under his bed, and wondered why it was so heavy. I lifted it up, and heard the sound of glass hitting glass. I closed my eyes. "Mason, don't let me open this and find A BUNCH of beer bottles_." _I opened it slowly, praying hard that it wouldn't be filled with empty beers. "Oh thanks, Mason! I ask for no beer bottles and you give me three empty tequila bottles and three wine bottles…smooth. Focus, Megan! So it was thirty-two, add six, that's…? Mason, please tell me your buddies drank this and not you alone. Please."I moved onto the other two guitar cases. One was filled with five empty Samuel Adams beers and two gin bottles, and the other case contained two bottles of whiskey- one was full and the other was empty. Now we were up to forty-six bottles, because I didn't count the full one. I was getting really worried. This could kill him if he wasn't careful. And he had to start watching himself right now if he wanted to live any longer. Because having forty-six bottles in a room and a half, was just too much. Even in his position. That's too many bottles for any situation.

I continued with my search, and I made sure I put everything back exactly where it was and how it was. At this time I had counted forty-six empty bottles. He had beer, tequila, whiskey, wine, booze, and even empty gin bottles. When I was just finishing, I was in his home studio, and looking around. I was afraid to touch anything because I didn't want to mess him up on whatever he was working on. I didn't know anything about recording studios, so I kept my hands stuffed in my pockets and vowed not to take them out until I left that room. I looked under one of his tables, and found six more bottles. "Good God, Mason! What is up with you?"

"Nothing."

I shot up and turned around so fast I almost lost my balance. Mason was standing right there, shirtless, watching me and smiling as he leaned against the door frame- another drink in his hand.

"Don't do that!"

"Don't do what?"He said, taking a drink from his beer and sweetly smiling at me.

"Nevermind." I said, walking toward him. "Number?" I asked, referring to his drink and putting my hands on his smooth bare chest.

"Six."He said with that adorable smile on his face. He knew I couldn't say anything now, and he knew I totally melted when ever I saw him smile. But not this time. I tried my best to stand firm, but I started to fall into his trap.

"Mason, we…"I trailed off, and didn't finish my sentence. I just stood there, looking back at him.

"We, what?"He said, with the cutest smile ever on his face. He knew what I was going to say, but wanted to stall as long as possible.

I shook it off, and averted my gaze in order to keep focus. "Mason, we have to talk."

"Ok…'bout what?"

I grabbed his hand and led him out to the living room. "How many bottles do you think are out here?"

"Oh I don't know…" He said, trying to come up with a reasonable estimation. "Fifteen?"

"I don't know either. I just know there are too many."

"Hey, what were you doing in there?" He asked me, referring to the home studio and taking a drink from the beer in his hand.

"Nothing. Just looking around. I didn't touch anything."

He raised his eye brows at me, and they disappeared under his side bangs. "You were counting all the empty bottles, weren't you?"

"…Kind of…"

"Come on, Megan. Don't you trust me?"He asked me, as he sat down on the couch and took a drink from the half-full chilled beer in his hand.

"I trust you. Why would you ask that?" I felt my face getting hot as I avoided his addicting chocolate eyes and started to cool down as my eyes tried their best to keep their focus on the frosted beer.

"Kelsey, you were just 'looking' around my studio, counting all those empty bottles." Mason explained, as I pressed my lips and tried to direct the conversation back to him

"So you admit to having a lot of 'em?"

"Not too many, but yeah, I have a few."

"Do you ever throw them away? The empty ones I mean."

"Yeah. Well sometimes. The beginning of every month I throw all of them out."

"So it's the second week of August. In two weeks, how many drinks would you have?" I asked him, as I walked past and sat next to him on the soft velvet couch.

"Oh…I don't know…two weeks? Maybe around 35 or so." He said, turning and positioning himself to face me.

"Wrong answer."

"What do you mean wrong answer? You asked me a question!"

"Guess how many empty beer, wine, tequila, whiskey, booze, and gin bottles I counted in your room, studio, and in here."

"Holy…" he whispered, and muttered some curse word under his breath.

"Any guesses?"

"No idea. Where did you look in my room?"

"On your desk, guitar cases, and your bookcase."

"Oh…so I guess you saw what was in the cases, huh?"

"Yep."

"Oh…how many?"

"Fifty-two."

Mason didn't respond. He just looked down at the floor to avoid all eye contact. He took the last drink from the bottle he was holding. After few minutes of total silence and no eye contact, he got up and started walking toward the bar.

"Don't you dare, Mason." I closed my eyes, and pressed my lips, not moving at all. In the middle of my sentence, I heard the click-clanking of glass bottles moving around.

"Just one more?"

Before I could respond, I heard the sound of a bottle open. It was probably another beer, but I wasn't sure. "Mason. That's number seven

today. Its only 4:00 and you've been awake since 1:00. Put it back."I ordered, turning around to face him, my stomach hurting even more every time I moved. He was looking at the beer in his hands, Corona Light. He was just holding it at first, and then gripped it hard. "Mason…come on." I told him, watching and anticipating what he was about to do. He looked up at me, and said, "Please, Kelsey? It's only a drink…" He tried to sweet talk me and call me by that name, along with using his puppy eyes. "Mason, put it down. Now."I moved a hand to my stomach, and he looked guilty. He didn't say anything, and I wondered what was going through his head.

_**Mason's Point of View**_

I was standing there, behind the bar, deciding to either drink the beer and go against what Megan was telling me to do, or listen to her and put it back. I knew I was addicted, and I wanted to stop, and the past weeks I've been telling myself that when I wake up, but eventually, some time during the day, I would pour myself a drink. Just because. If I had been having a bad day, then I would have a drink. If it was a good day, I would still have one. But, that's just it- I wouldn't stop at one. Sometimes, on the really bad days, I would get up to maybe eight or nine drinks. It wouldn't be intentional, but because I was having a bad day, I would dwell on what went wrong, and I would sit at that bar for hours on end, just having more and more and not realizing how much I was actually drinking. Honestly, I don't know how many I have on the bad days. I just assume eight or nine because I can handle up to nine beers, but if I happen to go over my limit, I don't remember anything the next morning.

Almost every morning, since I was thirteen or so, I would wake up at the bar and with a hangover. I didn't even sleep in my bed anymore. But about the hangovers- I was used to them by now, and they didn't bother me too much anymore. I would wake up with a huge headache, take three or four Advil painkillers, depending on how much I had the night before. Then I would take a shower, and go on with my day. I found that if I didn't think about the hangover and how my head was pounding, then I was almost ok.

"Mason…?" Megan said, with a worried edge to her voice, bringing me back to reality.

"Yeah?" I answered after ten seconds or so, staring out the window. My voice was starting to become weak again.

"So what are you going to do now?"

"…How's the restaurant doin'?"

"Mas!"

"Fine. I guess I have to put this back, huh?"

"Please."

"Ok…"I looked down and tried to estimate how fast Megan could get over here and compared it to my how fast I can down a beer…

"_I'll be right back. But I'm going to trust that you aren't going to drink that beer. Ok?"_

"_Yeah. Ok…" _I watched as she got up and walked to the bathroom. As soon as she closed the door, I sighed. _Now, if I can down a whole beer in twenty seconds, and then get another one out and open it, Megan will never know the difference. _For some reason, I thought that was a good idea, and followed through with it. But, the thing I didn't do was bring out the same kind of beer. I brought out a Miller Light instead. It was a stupid mistake, which I could've easily done right if I didn't just down that Corona Light and if that wasn't number seven at 4:30 in the afternoon.

Well, before I noticed that it was a different kind of beer, Megan walked out. She was about to say something, then stopped and looked at the bottle in my hands. "Mason…?" She asked, confused. "Didn't you have a Corona before?"

"Nope."

"Are you sure?" She said, walking towards the bar, and sitting down. "Because I'm pretty sure you had…a Corona…"

"No. What have you been drinking? Haha!"

"Yeah, you're one to talk." She said sarcastically. My smile disappeared, and we both laughed.

"No, seriously Mason, did you have a Corona or not?"

"…" I took a deep breath, and looked down at my hands, avoiding her eyes. "…yes…" I mumbled, afraid of what she would say.

"So, you tried to trick me by thinking I wouldn't noticed if you drank that first beer, and then you just lied to me saying that you didn't have a Corona. Nice job."

I knew she was right, so I stood there, still looking down at my hands.

She continued after a brief pause, "Mason, please. This could seriously hurt you. And I don't mean 'hurt' as in hangovers. I mean this could kill you. Having three or four drinks a day is way too much."

"…eight or nine…" I mumbled, hoping she wouldn't understand and ignore it, but I was wrong.

"Oh, Mas, please tell me you are lying again."She said in disbelief, as she reached across the bar and put her hand on mine.

I continued to gaze down at my hands, avoiding her eyes.

She didn't say anything, but I could sense that she was stunned. She gripped my hand harder, and finally whispered, "Baby, please. For my sake and yours, just stop. Whatever it takes, just stop it," Her tone of voice changed in mid-sentence and started trembling.

"Kelsey, I-" I stopped, and slowly lifted my eyes to look at her. She was trying hard not to cry, but was barely succeeding. She was looking down at our hands, and it was now her turn to avoid eye contact.

A few seconds later, one lonely tear started to roll down her cheek. I took the beer I was still holding and tossed it into the trash can. I lifted my left hand, and wiped her tear away, then lifted her chin, and looked into her eyes. She had a worried expression on her face, and after about 15 seconds, she stood up quickly, and got her switchblade and cell phone that were on one of the end tables.

"Where ya goin'?" I asked quietly. She froze, and turned around to face me. Her expression wasn't exactly worried anymore, but pained. I slowly started walking around the bar, and toward her. She didn't respond, so I asked another question. "Are you ok?" She bit her bottom lip to keep herself from completely falling apart, and slowly nodded her head. "No you're not. Come here." I whispered as I wrapped her in my arms. I rested my head on hers, as she put her arms around my waist, and laid her head against my chest, trying to calm down. We stood there for a moment or two, and when I let her go, I held her hand and looked at those watering, ocean deep eyes. I leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "Please don't worry about me, Kelsey. I'll be fine. I'll have everything under control soon. No matter what happens, just remember I'll always be here for you and I'll always love you."I kissed her lightly, and smiled, waiting for her reaction. She lost her breath and didn't look at me for a couple of seconds, but then she raised her eyes to look at me, and slowly, a smile appeared on her lips. We stood there, for which seemed like a year, just smiling at each other and blushing. After a minute or two, she turned around, and started walking around the coffee table and toward the door.

"Wait."

Megan stopped right in front of the door.

"…where are you going now…?" I was barely whispering now, but she still heard me. "Home." She didn't turn around, or even move the slightest bit. When she was almost certain I wouldn't say anything else, she put her hand on the doorknob, and started to open it. "Kelsey."

She froze again, and slowly turned her head to look over her shoulder. "Be careful. Love you."

She took a deep, trembling breath, and returned the sentence. "Now you, Mason, you're the one who should be very careful if you want to live at least another year. Love you too."She walked out, and closed the door behind her.

I stood there, for eternity, just watching the door and expecting her to come back, but she never did. I sat down and began to review what happened in these past twenty-four hours. I sat down on the couch, leaned back, and relaxed, with my right hand covering my eyes and resting on the arm rest. Five minutes later, I finally started thinking of what Megan told me when she was talking about drinking. She was pretty smart for a sixteen year-old, or at least smarter then me. She told me that if I wasn't careful, this could really kill me, and I believed her. Eventually, after a half hour of sitting there and thinking about her, it was 6:15. I got up, and started walking toward the bar slowly. I opened the mini-fridge, and brought out a bottle of new whiskey. "What the heck am I doing?" I said out loud as I finished the first glass. "Less than two hours ago, Megan was crying because she was so worried about me and my drinking, and now, here I am, about to finish a bottle of just-opened whiskey. Oh well. It's only one more drink. It's not like it'll make any difference." But the whole time I was sitting there, I couldn't get my mind off of her. I put on some music in attempt to pull my mind away from her, but it wasn't helping any. Soon, after about a half hour, the whiskey was gone, and I tried to get up and walk away, but I didn't exactly succeed. First of all, when I got off the stool, I fell, and then I started talking to myself as I sat up. "You know, Mas, Megan willn't find out if I got another little drink will she? I don't think so!"I attempted to stand up with the assistance of the two barstools, and walked around the bar to open the fridge.


	16. Running

**Chapter 16**

**Running**

**Megan's Point of View**

As I walked out of his apartment building, I had only three things on my mind- Mason and Grady, and what happened that night. I was worried about Mason, and I started to wonder if he had already started drinking again. I assumed he was probably at the bar, drinking either beer or whiskey, totally ignoring everything I told him. Now Grady, I was worried he would come after me again. And what if this time, he actually did kill me? And what if Mason gets drunk sometime tonight, which is extremely likely, and hurts himself somehow? What if when I really need him, he isn't available? What about me? What was to become of me? If I was really pregnant…? Then…what would I do?

I walked home with all these questions on my mind. With each step I took, another question popped into my head and worried me even more if possible. I finally arrived home with a multitude of questions with no answers in my head, and opened my front door, only to find the knife Grady threatened me with sitting right there, on the rug at the front door. I looked around the house to make sure that he wasn't there with the knife right there with me if I needed it. He wasn't there, and I was finally relaxed when I checked the very last room- his room. There was another note on his desk, and I stood there debating if I should open it or not. With the knife in hand, I picked up the note, leaned against the desk and began to read it.

3 -15-01

Dear Megan,

I hope you are being careful as you walk around the house. I am sorry for how I am acting, and it will soon blow over. I am just afraid that Mason will hurt you, and I don't want anything bad to happen to you. I am watching you as you lean against the desk and grip that knife in your hand, and want you to know that if I come back in the same way I did last night, that knife will do you no good. I suggest you stay somewhere else, because it will not hurt me. Don't try and lock your doors, because I can walk through anything. When I finally complete the Purifying process, I'll explain everything, but for now, don't try to understand.

Love you,

Grady

I put the note down and began to feel scared again. I decided I would stay in the house that night, and maybe I would be able to have a conversation with him and try to find out why he was acting like that.

So that's what I did. I stayed there alone in the house for two weeks, and nothing happened. until about 2:35 or so. I couldn't sleep. I hadn't slept in fourteen days. My stomach was still bothering me, and I was really worried about that, still. I propped myself up on one elbow, and looked at the door. My door opened. Grady came back, the same as he was last night, and told me in the deep, demonic voice, "I thought I told you to get out of here!" He said as he flew toward me. I screamed as he landed on my bed and started snarling like a dog. "Grady! What is wrong? Why don't you love me anymore?"

"I do." He barked in his demonic voice. "I just can't stand that Mason and you are a couple now!"He was now on all fours, right over me.His midnight eyes shot through me as I watched him transform into a wolf. A massive wolf, that was the size of a grizzly bear, or maybe even a buffalo. I stared wide-eyed, taking in his thick frame, taking on a dark maroon-red tint as the moon light shone on his fur. Grady started howling and barking, and when he was howling his eyes were closed and his head pointed toward the night sky. I made my getaway, and he ran after me seconds after I left the room. I ran to the front door, but I forgot to close the door behind me, so Grady ran after me, now with the knife in his mouth. One time, he actually got close enough to cut me, but I sped up as he pulled the knife down. I ran into Luttrell, with my devilish wolf twin brother not far behind me.

I ran to Mason's apartment building, and went up the stairs as fast as possible, skipping every other one. I tripped a few times, but I caught myself and kept going. Grady wasn't far behind, in fact he was only about ten to fifteen steps back. By now, he had changed back to his human form, and I eventually lost him in the building while running from floor to floor. I ran to Mason's apartment, and when I arrived I slammed the door behind me. It shouldn't have stopped him, but for some reason, it did. I stood there, looked around, and I didn't see Mason anywhere. I finally found him lying behind the bar, but I suddenly became very dizzy and started to feel the warm liquid flowing at an even pace from the middle of my spine down to my lower back. I called 911, and told them where I was, but before I could tell them what was wrong, I lost the strength to talk. I heard the sirens coming close, and then fade into the distance.


	17. Missing

**CHAPTER 17**

** Missing **

_**Mason's Point of View**_

I woke up with the next morning with another headache. I lay there, thinking of what happened the day before. I couldn't remember anything, so I started to stand up. I stood up, and realized why I was so uncomfortable. I had been lying on a few bottles. I looked at the bar, and now I really remembered. There was an empty whiskey bottle, and a glass right next to it. I didn't exactly surprise me, and so I went on with my day.

Around 4:00, I started wondering why Megan hadn't called yet. Usually, she called around 1:30 or so everyday. I called her, and got her answering machine. I hung up, and said aloud, "Oh yeah…she's probably working at the restaurant…I'll just call there."So I did, and Megan's friend, Jessie, answered.

I've only seen Jessie a few times, but she's pretty cool. She's always energetic, and she's usually making jokes about some awkward situation that happened that day. She has the best facial expressions when telling a story, and usually knows what to say in any scenario. Sometimes she makes weird comments, but somehow they always manage to make sense. For a sixteen year-old girl, she has extremely clear skin with a few freckles and wavy hair that always seems to fall just perfectly around her face and on her shoulders. She's usually playing with her light coffee hair with honey highlights, putting it up in a ponytail, taking it down, or letting it fly around all over the place. Sometimes she put it in crazy hairstyles that she thought of herself, and she was really the only one who could pull it off and still be cool.

"Good afternoon! This is Mike and May's how may I assist you?"

''Hey, Jessie!''

''Uhh…hi?''

''This is Mason. What's crackin?''

''Oh, hi Mason. Haha I didn't know it was you…ha…awkward…''

''Haha nah it's all cool! Hey, have you seen Megan yet?''

''You know, I actually haven't. She hasn't come in today, but she was supposed to. Can you run over there and see if she's ok? I'm a little busy here so I can't do it myself.''

''Yeah, sure. She wasn't answering her phone so I'm not sure if she's there, though.''

''Thanks. I'm really busy right now…hold on…WHAT DO YOU WANT CAETLIN? I'M TALKING ON THE PHONE!'' she shouted across the restaurant to her younger sister. I heard a muffled response, and wasn't able to hear what she said.

Caetlin was Megan's best friend, and she saw Caetlin, or Catie, as her younger sister. Catie was a little shorter than Megan, so she was around 5'4 or so. Megan usually calls her Catie instead of Caetlin, but once in a while, she'll call her Snowman, and Catie will call her Bandit. I don't totally understand it, but I don't ask because I figure it's an inside joke. Catie is a total country girl, and completes her outfit with a cowboy hat and the matching boots. She loves singers like Kenny Chesney and Jimmy Wayne, and wishes to meet them sometime soon. She's somewhat like her older sister Jessie, but is indeed her own person. She's almost always happy, and loves most everyone, and she'll do just about anything for a good time. Catie is always singing some song, and most of the time Megan tells her to 'just shut up,' in a sarcastic way, but I like her voice. She has hair that is usually a light brown, but sometimes it has a golden tint added to it.

''You still there, Mason?'' Jessie asked as she picked up the phone again.

''Yeah, I'm here.''

''Ok good. So can you just go to her house and check on her for me? I've tried to call her, but she hasn't answered her cell or home. Which is weird 'cause she always has her cell with her.''

''Yeah, I guess. But she hasn't answered for me either. I guess I could just pop in and see what's up.''

''Thanks so much. I'm so busy around here! Everything's going crazy because Megan isn't here. Hey while you're at her house, why don't you drop by?''

''Sure. I got no where to go. I'll be by soon.''

''Ok haha I guess I'll see ya later!''

''Haha, okay, I'll see yeah Jess. Bye.''

''Ok bye-bye, Mason!''

I hung up the phone, and started to head out the door. While I was walking over to Megan's, I started to get more and more nervous with every step I took. When I was about halfway between our houses, I was so nervous. I couldn't take it any longer and I got out a cigarette to calm my nerves. I got to Megan's house, and saw that the door was wide open. Something glistening and reflecting the light on the ground caught my eye. It was lying on the carpet in front of the door. It was a knife. But it wasn't only a knife, it was a blood-stained knife. I picked it up, and started looking at it. It scared me so bad and my hands started shaking as I tried to light another cigarette. I walked around the house, and took a quick look in every room, but I didn't see any other thing out of the ordinary, except for something on the kitchen tiles. While I was walking through, I just noticed something red on the white tile. Deep, thick red. There were three or four blood red footsteps starting from the middle of the floor, and stopping right at the hallway back to the family room. Now I was really freaked out and quickly walked to the front door, and firmly shut it behind me.

After that interesting experience, I walked over to the restaurant to meet up with Jessie and the gang. I was about half way there, when the thought of JD and his gang popped into my head. What if they were there? And started beating on me again?

When I arrived at Mike and May's, I walked in the backdoor, just like I always do. I was almost immediately greeted by their head chef- Madi. She was a very funny girl who always had a smile on her face. She was always cooking something naturally, because she was a cook, but even if they were closed, she would come in and make something special for her fellow workers. I just figured she was as addicted to cooking as I was to drinking. She was a tall girl, with curly blonde hair which was beautiful when she had it down, but she usually had it contained in a ponytail to keep it out of her face and away from her work.

She said to me, ''Oh hey, Mason! We haven't seen you in a while around here! How ya been?"

"Oh, molto bene." I responded in Italian. She understood me, and nodded her head. "Hey, Madi, where's Jess?"

"I think she's in the front room- working with all the customers and that. She might be a waiter today, though. I never know where she is or what she's doing! Haha!" she told me with a smile on her face and putting her hands up as if in surrender.

"Ok, I'll find her. Thanks!"

"See ya, Mason!"

I walked out to the front room, and saw Jessie conversing with a customer.

I came up behind her and playfully slammed my hands on her shoulders. I knew she cringed whenever anybody did that, even with a warning. I was right, and she shuddered. "Haha! Chill Jess, it's just me!"

"Oh…haha…hey Mason…! Haha!"

"So how's the restaurant today?" I asked, my hands resting on her shoulders and still not noticing who it was she was talking to.

"Oh we're doing fine. So did you see Megan?"

"No, actually I didn't. But, I did find two things, and one other thing was kinda weird..."

"Uhh…good or bad…?"

"Bad. All of them."

"Oh, please don't tell me you found her dead?" She gasped, putting her hand to her mouth as all the color drained from her face.

"No. I didn't. They weren't that bad."

"So what were they?"

"You sure you want to know?"

"Yes…no…yes!...no!...yes…oh just tell me!"

"Well…" I told her the whole story of how I found her door wide open, the knife laying perfectly positioned on the carpet, and then the footsteps on the tile. I finished with, "So I really have no idea where she is now."

"Well do you think we should call the police?" Jessie asked as soon as Catie and her new boyfriend, Rob, walked up. Rob was quite an intimidating character. He was always good looking and making a joke with a smile on his face, and sometimes I doubt it was possible for him to be serious. He wore grease in his dark brown hair everyday of his life, just like he was a greaser from the 1950's. I was self-conscious when ever he walked over, because I knew he was better than me.

"Why would we call the police?" Catie asked.

"Oh shut up, Caetlin. I'll tell you later." Jessie said.

Then I jumped in and repeated the whole thing.

"I'm thinking Grady got her." I said, looking at the two girls on either side of me and avoiding contact with Rob.

"Grady…Grady...Oh! Yeah Grady. He's really scary." Catie said, looking at me wide-eyed. I responded, "Yeah, plus he's been haunting her for the past few nights. And I mean actually legit haunting."

"Legit meaning…?"

"Like legitimate. But I mean like he'll appear as a demon and come toward her with knives and stuff. A few nights ago she had to stay over at my house because he tried to kill her."

"Aww…" Jessie smiled, playfully elbowing me in the ribs. "You let her stay at your house…"

"Yeah. So? We're just friends…oh wait…"

"Wait, what?"

"I think I may have asked her to be my girl, and she said yes, but neither of us really remembered that…"

"What'd you do?"

"Oh nothing, we just-"

"I don't wanna hear it." Catie said, surrendering and walking away, Rob following her, then looking over his shoulder to wave and smile at me. I stared him down as he walked away, and eventually got back to the conversation I was having with Jessie.

"Anyway…we just had a few drinks. Neither of us remember what happened after 6:45 that morning, but it's not too much of a problem."

"Okay. That's fine. Oh, and hey some kids were asking me about you."

"Who?"

"I don't know, but one of them is like covered in tattoos…and he smokes…he scares me…"

"Oh…what did you tell them?" As soon as I finished that question, I felt a cold, tattooed hand fall on my shoulder, and a chilling voice say, "Hey, Mason. Long time no see."

"What do you want, JD?" I said with a tone to show that I was annoyed. I didn't turn around, but I just closed my eyes as Jessie became frightened.

"Jessie, why don't you leave me, my gang and Mason here alone." Jessie, nervous, just nodded her head and walked away quickly. I watched her walk away, and disappear behind the kitchen doors. I turned around, only to see JD's tatted, fragile body right behind me, with Devon, Ant, and Blake behind him.

"What do you want?"

I was starting to get really annoyed with them. I didn't have time for this. Megan was missing and I had to find her soon, before something really bad happened.

"Where are they?" JD snarled, towering over me with his hands in the pockets of his black skinny jeans.

"Look guys, I told you I don't have them. I lost my connection and I can't get them anymore. Just deal with it." I said, making eye contact with all of them, then making a surrendering motion with my hands and walking away.

I got as far as the door, but then Devon growled, "Mas. Get back here. Now." I took my hand off the door handle and turned around. I reached into my back pocket and made sure I had my switchblade. This could get bad. Devon walked up to me, by himself, and grabbed my shirt. He brought me up to about three inches from his face, lifting me off the ground so I was helpless. He smelled so strongly of smoke, I almost coughed. But I just held my breath and stayed calm, knowing that this teenager could snap me in half if he wanted to and I wouldn't have any say in it. He looked at me with those hazel eyes full of hatred and whispered. "Now you listen to this and you listen good. It's Wednesday. If you don't have them by Saturday, you won't wake up again. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yeah. Sure." He let me go, and pushed me out the door. As soon as I got outside I zipped up my jacket and lit a cigarette, heading off to go look for Megan.


	18. Watching

**Chapter 18**

**Watching**

_**Megan's Point of View**_

I woke up the next morning in the hospital. I was laying down, and as I opened my eyes, I was greeted by a smiling nurse staring at me. "Why, hello there, young lady. How are you feeling?"

"Um…I'm okay, I guess…where am I?"

"In the Luttrell County hospital."

"Wait, why am I here? I'm fine."

"You're here because somehow you got a huge cut in your back."

"Grady…" I whispered as I stared at the wall, wide-eyed.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, oh nothing. How long will I be here?"

"You should be able to go home in around two or three days with a back brace."

"No! No, no, no, no, no. I have a house to take care of and bills to pay and a restaurant I have to run. I have to go home right now!" I told her, getting out of my bed and starting to stand up.

"Oh please stay. Just until we take a few x-rays to examine." She said gently, trying to guide me back to the bed. "Fine. When will we be doing that?"

"Well, if it is 11:30 now, then about ten minutes."

"Ok, fine I'll stay. But after we see the x-rays than I'm leaving."

"Thank you very much, young lady. Now may I ask for your name?"

"Megan. Megan Kyle."

"Ok. Well Ms. Kyle, please stay here and rest while I leave just for a moment. Try not to move so as to not disturb your back."

"Will do. Bye."

When the nurse left, I just sat there, staring into space and wondering what happened and why I was here in the hospital. Then I remembered everything. Everything from when Grady came into my room, to running to Mason's apartment, to seeing him behind the bar and fainting after calling 911. I wondered what Mason's doing now. _He's probably drinking a beer and listening to music at his apartment. I should probably give him a call soon, tell him where I am and stuff like that. Oh wait…there's no phone around here and I don't have my cell phone for once…oh well I'll call him when I leave this place… _The nurse came back in, and interrupted my thoughts. "Are you ready to take some x-rays?" She asked with a smile on her face.

"I guess so." She led me to a dark room, and I laid face-down on a metal table. I heard some whispering, and then they turned the lights back on. "Young lady," the doctor walked out from a door in the side of the room. "Are you aware you're pregnant?"

"I, um…well…" I couldn't speak. I was in awe, and embarrassed. "I am…?"

"Yes, you are. We can't take any x-rays, for it will have some serious effects on the baby, possibly killing it. Follow me." The doctor led me back to my room.

He murmured with a few other doctors, and finally, they all dispearsed, then one turned me over, on to my left side, and looked at my back. He ran his fingers around each vertebrae, and made a small noise of approval. While he was running his fingers around the bones, I faced the other way, and cried. _Was I really? The doctor was probably right…I mean that would make sense…what will Mason say?_

About ten to fifteen minutes later, he was finished, and told me I would be just fine. Nothing was broken, which was very fortunate, and my spine was perfectly in line. I had to have a few stitches and I had to wear a back brace for a few weeks, but other than that, I was fine. I was let go after I got the stitches and they gave me instructions for the brace. It was around 1:45 when I was let go and I called Mason. I called his house phone first, and then his cell phone. He picked up his cell phone and he didn't sound right. His voice was slightly "off" and I was a little worried about him. I told him I was going to come by for just a few minutes, but before I had to stop at my house to change and clean up. Before we hung up, I had to ask him one more question. "Number?"

"Oh…um…you'll see when you get here."

"Fine. I'll be by soon. OK? I have some news for you when I get there. Be careful, Mason. Love you."

"Alright. Love you, too." He hiccupped. I could tell he was drinking something, and it most likely wasn't anything good. We hung up, as I arrived at my house. I walked in, and decided I would only go up to my room and change, and then look in Grady's room to see if he had left another note for me.

I did exactly what I told myself I would. I changed into my tight light blue jeans and a black and white lumber jack shirt. My jeans didn't fit, and that seriously bothered me since they were my favorites. I put on some looser cargo pants and a camisole; I walked into Grady's room, and noticed there was another note on the desk.

3-16-09

Dear Megan,

I warned you not to come back, but it seems you have not listened to my advice. Maybe you shall listen this time. I warn you, as you walk out of here at 1:57, do not look back in your room. You are already ready, so don't look back. Only look back at your own risk. You better listen to me this time, because if you don't, you won't live very long after.

GRADY

I put the note back down, and looked at the time- 1:57. I walked out of the room and closed the door behind me. I knew I should obey Grady, but something was urging me to go see what he was talking about. My door opened slowly on its own, and I only saw what was in vision from where I was standing. Letters in a deep red color was written on the wall above my bed. The liquid it was written in dripped down the wall slowly as I took a few steps toward the door, and saw it said '_**Mason'**_ with an '**X**' over his name. I turned to leave, but I as I was turning I saw Grady at the other end of the hallway, walking toward me slowly. I ran down the stairs and got away. When I left the house, I looked up at my window. I saw Grady there, watching me leave. I stared at him for a minute or two, and then left to stop by the restaurant, and then I was off to Mason's house.

When I got to the restaurant, I walked in the front door to see if any customer I was familiar with was there. I saw JD and his gang, and I suddenly became nervous when they noticed me, and quickly started walking to the kitchen. I was stopped by Jessie and Catie, and they told me Mason was looking for me and asked me where I had been. I told them I was busy and that I would be in tomorrow, but I had some business to take care of, and some news for them. I walked to the kitchen and was immediately greeted by the forever-smiling Madi.

"Oh hey, Megan! Mason was lookin' for you earlier."

"Yeah, Jessie and Catie just told me that as soon as I walked in."

"Oh ok. Where were-"

"I was busy. I'll be in tomorrow, but right now I have some stuff to do that's pretty important. I'll see you tomorrow morning at 8ish."

"Oh, um okay. See ya."

I left the restaurant via the back door in order to avoid all contact with JD and them. I succeeded, and started walking to Mason's house, only 6 blocks away.

When I got there, I walked in and a strong smell of a mixture of alcohols hit me harder than a collapsing building. I coughed a few times, and said, "Mason? Are you here?"I looked around the house, and didn't get a response, until I looked around the bar. For some reason, I chose to look there last, even though I knew in the back of my mind that he would be there. He sat there, leaning against his cabinet, and covering his eyes with his right hand and which was resting on his knee. He looked like he was asleep, but was probably actually passed out, and the reason I came to that conclusion was because he had an open tequila bottle that only had another sip or two left, just about to fall out of his left hand. "Mason…"I sighed, disappointed and worried. He had that bottle he was holding, as well as quite few drinks on the bar, and a couple around his feet. Not surprisingly, empty. But there was only one on the bar which was full, and it helped to lighten the mood to see that it was only less drink that was gone.

I stood there for a few moments, not totally sure what to do now, and wondering if I should wake him up or just leave a note or something like that. I hoped that he wouldn't be mad if I woke him up, and that's what I planned to do. I walked over silently, avoiding some of the glass bottles lying on the floor. I cleared a spot next to Mason, and slowly sat down on the tile. The back brace didn't make it very easy to sit down, and the small bump in my stomach didn't help either, but I slid my back against the cabinets and sat down next to him. I rested my head on his shoulder, and closed my eyes for a moment; just thinking about what I should do about Mason's drinking addiction. I had three options- 1) to totally leave him on his own and not address it at all, which I couldn't do, 2) I could be nice about it, and sweet talk him into stopping, 3) Or I could just force him to stop. I thought about my options for a while and then decided to go with a mix of my second and third options.

"…Mason…"I lifted my chin slightly, and whispered in his ear as I leaned my head on his shoulder. "Mason…"I whispered his name a few more times and then finally gave up. My voice faded off as I blinked a few times, and my eyes lids slid over my eyes, and I fell asleep on his shoulder.


	19. Believe

**Chapter 19**

**Believe**

Megan…?...Megan…?"

I was awakened by Mason's whispering velvet voice. I opened my eyes to a dark room.

"Mmm…What time is it…?" I responded softly and drowsily.

"Oh…probably around 11:30 or so." He sounded like he had been awake for a while, so I asked him. "Hmm…about ten minutes give or take…when did you get here?"

"Around quarter after…"

"Psh, that doesn't help me. Quarter after, what?" He said, laughing softly to himself.

"Five, I think…"

"So…um…anything else?"He asked, a nervous edge catching on to his voice.

"Yeah," I said, actually opening my eyes now, sitting up and turning to face him. "I saw a few things, actually."

"O-oh yeah? W-what um…what did you uh…what'd you see?"

"Oh, nothing really." I said, straightening my legs and putting them over Mason's. I supported myself by my arms that were behind me. I smiled at him, putting him through even more torture. I could tell he was nervous by the way he was speaking, and also that worried look in his eyes he was trying so desperately to hide.

We sat there for a few minutes, looking into each other's eyes as his nervousness got worse by the second. I knew that if I didn't respond soon, then the feeling would eat him alive, so I finally spoke. And as I went on, my smile faded away.

"I did see a few bottles. Ring a bell?"I said with my eyebrows raised now. We were still sitting in the dark and it became increasingly hard to see him.

"Yeah…that's what I thought you would say…"He whispered, getting quieter and quieter with every word he spoke. He turned away, trying to avoid all contact. He moved his legs, and I watched him as he moved closer to the bar. About fifteen seconds later, I sat forward and grabbed his hand. "I saw a few others to. Like the tequila bottle and all these on the floor."I spoke gently, because I knew he just wanted to disappear. "Mason? Can you stop?"

He took a deep breath and let out a huge sigh. He finally looked at me and whispered, "…I don't know…"

"Well…when's the last time you went a whole day with out a drink?"

Mason just averted his gaze, steady and trying to stay calm, tension rising within his mind.

"Do you remember?"

"Yes…the last time was…when I was fifteen…? Yeah around there."

"So...you've been an alcoholic for two years, and your not even twenty yet?"

"I guess so…"

"Mason, you have to stop. At least you have to stop drinking this much."

"But I can't…"

"Well, you know, I know someone who needs a place to stay, so she could stay here until your ok?"

"That's fine. Depends who she is though."

"Oh, well you know her. She has dark brown hair, which is just a few inches past her shoulders. She has tan skin, with dark brown eyes…I think her name is something like…Megan…" I said with a smile on my face. Mason smiled back, but I could just barely see him because it was so dark. We sat there for a few minutes, both wondering what to say or do next. Mason spoke up first.

"So where were you today? I called your cell, home and even the restaurant. No one knew where you were."

"Actually, you knew."

"I did? How? You never told me."

"I was in the hospital."

"Why?" Mason said, with a worried edge added to his voice.

"Because Grady came after me with a knife."

"Why didn't you call me? I would've helped you."

"I did. I ran over to this building, and Grady followed me, but I lost him before I came here. Then I realized I was bleeding real bad, and called 911."

"…where was I?"

"Passed out; right here, but lying down."

"…really…?"

"No, Mason, you were in Canada for the weekend."

"Ha-ha very funny," he said, sarcastically. "So what did Grady do to make you go to the hospital?"

I was sitting back now again, with my left hand behind me and my right hand holding my left side. "Guess."

"Well did you say he came after you with a knife right?"

"Yes, sir." I said nodding my head. We were both still whispering for a reason unknown, and both sitting in the dark. Mason had relaxed a little and straightened his legs again, so I put mine over his and giggled.

"Is it like really bad? 'Cuz I mean obviously it wasn't that bad because I don't see any cuts."

I laughed, "Okay, then come here."

"But I'm comfy. What do you want me to do?"

"Put your hand to my stomach. It sounds awkward, but just do it."

"What do you mean? Why?"

"Come on."

"Fine,"He did, but cautiously. He sat back and looked at me, puzzled. "What the heck is that?"

I lifted up my shirt a little, just enough to reveal the brace.

"Oh…that explains it, haha."

"Yeah. As I was running away from Grady, he sliced the skin right down my spine, so I have a few stitches and a brace. Not exactly comfortable…" I responded, summarizing the whole day in just a few words.

"So, I was totally out during this whole thing?"

"Yeah. You were lying right here, with a few bottles on the floor."I told him, looking around. It was probably around 11:45 or so now, maybe even 12:00. I got up, and made my way to the couch slowly, trying not to step or trip on anything.

"Where you going?"

"To the couch."

"How can you see?"

"I can't."

I heard a cute laugh come out from behind the bar. "Good answer. I'm coming over. Probably not a good idea to sleep with the sharks, huh?"He said, smiling. I couldn't see him, but I could just tell by his voice and the context of the sentence. "Great idea, Einstein." I laughed. I love when we talked like this. He was so much easier to talk to when he was loose.

"Okay, why don't you scoot over to the other end of the couch, so I don't like squish you." Mason suggested, using the adorable laugh that made my face grow hot every time.

"You wouldn't squish me! But fine I'll move…haha."So he finally sat down, and I moved back over next to him. He put his arm around me, and I lay my head down on his shoulder. We just sat like that and talked for a while. We were trying to avoid the topic of both Grady and alcohol, and we just talked about everything else in the world. "Hey, Megan. Look!"

"Mason, its pitch black. I can't see anything."I whispered, drowsily, with my eyes closed. I was almost falling asleep on his chest. The couch was a recliner, so we were lying back, and I had my head resting on his chest with one arm around his stomach. He was lying sort of like the way Bandit is when he first comes in the movie, 'Smokey and the Bandit,' when he's sleeping in the hammock, except minus the cowboy boots and hat- with his feet crossed and his hands behind his head.

A little bit later, while I was being lulled to sleep by Mason's steady heart beat, he asked me a question.

"You awake, baby?" he whispered.

"…Yes." I said, softer than a leaf falling to the ground.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure. What you got on your mind…?" I asked, my eyes still closed as I moved my head back and forth on his chest a few times.

A few minutes later, he finally asked his question. "Do you believe in love?"

"Yeah, of course. Don't you?" But I never got a response. "...Mas…?"I whispered. The only response I got was the light breathing and steady heart beat of my best friend and first love.


	20. Need

**Chapter 20**

**Need**

I woke up the next day in exactly the same position I was in the previous night. I opened my eyes to see the sunlight just starting to sneak in to the curtains. I lifted my head to look at Mason, who hadn't moved either. He looked as if he was asleep, but I wasn't sure. "Mason…?" I whispered and waited for a response. I got one a few seconds later. "Yeah…?"He spoke even quieter than me. He brought one of his hands out from behind his head and started rubbing his eyes. "How ya feelin'?"

"Like I have every morning since I was thirteen."

"Oh…so I'm guessing not very good, huh?"

"There ya go."He was just covering his eyes now, and I assumed he was trying to ignore the hard, loud pounding in his ears. I stood up to go get a few Advil pills and a glass of water. "Where ya goin'?" He still had his eyes covered as I walked into the kitchen. I looked around a few of the cabinets, and finally found the painkillers. I got a few of them and filled up a glass of water. I brought them back to him, and he took two pills at one time, which was a little weird, and then finished off the other one quickly. "Woah, Mas, slow down."

"I'm fine." He snapped.

"Um...ok…So what you gonna do today?" I asked, softly placing the now empty water glass on the coffee table, then laying my head back on his chest.

"I don't know. Probably play my guitar, and do a few things around here."

"So you're not going to drink today?"

He took a deep breath before he answered. "…no…"

"Awesome. Ok, its 7:45 so I'm going to get dressed and stuff."I told him, standing up.

"Psh! Where you got to go at quarter till in the morning?"

"My job, lazy." I smiled at him. He opened his eyes, and gave me the most adorable smile ever. He stood up and looked at me. "You gonna be ok?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine."

"Ok, well call me if you need me, or if you just wanna talk. I'll be here."

"Thanks, Mas. I'll be back around 3ish, but then I have to leave for the dinner shift at 4:45. Okay?"

"Cool. I'll see ya later, Kelsey."He stuffed his hands in his pockets and smiled down at me as I put on my shoes. I looked up at him, and returned his smile, slowly moving my eyes from his bare feet, up his old blue jeans with the holes in the knees, to his zipper, then gazing upon his muscular shirtless chest, and finally resting my eyes on his dark coffee eyes, matching mine. I stood up, and smiled at him. I gave him a short kiss, and he wrapped me in his strong arms as his lips slowly traveled from my mouth, down the length of my neck. His hand traced my jaw line, leaving a trail of warmth and my skin feeling tingly as his hand moved. I rested my forehead against his, smiling. I realized that I couldn't stay, and that I had to get to work. "See ya, Mas."I unwrapped myself from his warm, sweet embrace, leaving my skin feeling cold and shivering. A depressed expression worked it's way into my eyes as I averted my gaze, from Mason, to the door. He noticed something was wrong, and was eager to hold me and comfort me, knowing something deeper than having to leave was bothering me. He took a step forward, and reached for my hand, as I back up and walked out the door.

I stepped out of the building, and saw that the sun was already up, and I had to hurry if I wanted to get there on time. I had skipped a couple of days in order to help Mason with a few things, and I hadn't found the time to get there. Besides, this was Jessie's day off, so it would just be Madi, Catie, Rob, and me, and maybe a few other people. It may be an easy day, if I'm lucky that is.

I finally got to the restaurant, at 8:00 sharp, and I unlocked the door. No one else was here yet, but that was expected because they had to be here at 8:15 at the latest, which is usually when all of them walk in at once. I turned on all the lights, and started walking back toward the kitchen. I was a little scared when I walked back there, because I thought I had heard something, like someone walking around the restaurant, but it was just my imagination. I calmed myself down, and realized that I was working on about six hours of sleep, so it wouldn't be an easy day, even if everything went right. After about fifteen minutes of terror, my coworkers finally walked in. We all greeted one another, and got to work as everyone in town started to file in to have breakfast. Catie and I ran around as waitresses, while Madi and Rob were back in the kitchen. None of us stopped moving for a second, until the breakfast shift had ended, at 11:30. Well, no one stopped moving, except for me. I leaned against on the counter, holding my stomach and felt like I was going to throw up. Catie walked over to me.

"Megan...? You don't look so good."

"I'm not…"

"What's wrong?"

"Well, I have a bit of a problem. Okay, a huge problem."

"What is it? What's wrong?" She watched me, studying the frightened expression in my eyes, but I didn't return her looks. I looked down at the counter, holding on so I wouldn't fall over.

"Well, I spent the night at Mason's house a few weeks ago, and-"

"Oh my God…"

I sighed. I was just glad I didn't have to explain anything.

"You didn't…" Catie trailed off, and started at me, horrified.

"Well, we both had a few beers and we got drunk…and…and…"

"Oh my God…"Catie repeated. She couldn't believe it, and was just as shocked as I was.

"Forget it. I'm alright." I let go of the counter, and almost lost my balance.

"Nice job. No you're not. But can you at least finish this shift or are you just done?"

"I'm fine." I said, trying to convince myself more than her. "I can still work. I'm okay." I walked away, going back to work.

Catie grabbed my arm. "Megan?"

"What?"

"Does Mason know?"

"No, not yet. I haven't told him. I'm afraid of how he'll react."

"Well, if you want me to tell him, just say something. Cause, if you don't tell him soon,"she motioned with her eyes down at my stomach. "He's gonna find out real soon!" I agreed with her, and told her I would tell him as soon as possible.

After that, I threw myself back into my work, and tried my best to ignore the stares and whispers I received from certain people all over the restaurant. We served just about every one in Luttrell, even the cheerleading and football team from Easton High. Every kind of person from a super self-conscious teenage cheerleader to a spoiled baby, from the richest man in town to the rest of Rob's gang.

Rob's friends weren't the richest in town, but they weren't the poorest, either. They were pretty cool, with their greased hair, leather jackets and jeans, but they also weren't the nicest people around.

I watched as the leader, Tyler, and his guys walked up the parking lot, towards the restaurant. Unfortunately, JD and his gang were walking up from another way. They spotted each other, and even though JD knew he didn't stand a chance, he decided to take them on, anyway. JD and Tyler started talking trash to each other, and eventually, fists were flying as all of them were fighting in the full parking lot. This wasn't anything new, and I knew what to do. I poked my head into the kitchen. "Rob, get out here. Madi, take over for just about ten minutes. Great job." Rob came out after about two minutes, and I pointed out the window. "Ok, let's go break it up." He said with a smile on his face. This happened every week, and every week it was the same thing over and over.

Rob and I walked outside, and as we were walking over to them, he shouted, "Ok, ok guys. Break it up! This happens every week." They finally calmed down while we were over there, and after JD and his gang walked into the restaurant, I talked with the guys.

"Look guys, I love having you here and havin' all of you as friends, but you have to knock it off sooner or later, or these people will stop coming. Got it?" They all nodded their heads, even Tyler. "And C.T. and Vinnie, aren't you two a little to young to be fighting like that?"They were only fourteen, while the rest of them were seventeen, eighteen and nineteen. C.T. was Tyler and Rob's younger brother, and he was best friends with Vinnie. Vinnie was one of the sweetest Spanish boys I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, even if he did get into fights sometimes. He was the paranoid one, who was always afraid of something. "No, we's ain't too young."Vinnie responded, not making eye contact. He stared at my stomach, and his eyes grew wide as he realized what was going on with me.

"Okay. Now, come on inside." I ignored all of the stares and whispers about the bump in my stomach. "We'll make you guys something."

So all of them came in, and we sat them at the opposite end of the restaurant away from JD and his guys. Rob went back to the kitchen, and I picked up my job as a waitress again. I had the pleasure of waiting on both gangs, and JD didn't seem too happy to see me. As a matter of fact, none of them were except for Ant, who was always my favorite. He always seemed so happy, and waved to me whenever he was sure JD wouldn't see him. He had never threatened me or even said a word to me, but I already liked him better than the others. Ant was the only one who knew what was going on, and was obviously not judging me about it.

As soon as I the breakfast shift was done, at 11:30, and every customer was fed and gone, I headed back to Mason's. I walked up the four flights of stairs to his second floor apartment, and when I arrived at his door, I noticed a big bag of glass bottles, and I figured he had been cleaning. I just wanted to drop by for a moment or two, because I had to be back to prepare for the lunch service. I walked in to find Mason sitting on the couch, playing his acoustic guitar.

"Hey, Mas."

"Hey, Kelsey. Wait, isn't it quarter to twelve?"

"Yeah. I'm just here for a few minutes. Just to see what's up. We don't have to prep for lunch until twelve, so I can stay for a bit."

"Oh, cool." He said, not looking at his guitar the entire time he was playing.

"So, what'cha playin'?"

"Oh, nothing. Just a melody I made up five or six years ago. I've never been able to put words to it and its driving me crazy."

"Well, it sounds really good." I said, sitting down next to him and watching him play. He still hadn't looked at the guitar, and just smiled and kept his eyes on me the whole time as he was playing difficult bar chords and strumming at an irregular beat.

"How long have you been playin' guitar?" I asked him, smiling back.

"For ten years, now."

We talked about guitars for a while, about different techniques and amplifiers and types of guitars as well as brands. After that, Mason told me that he hadn't had a beer or anything all day, and he was dying for a drink. I told him to just try and prove to himself that he could actually go a day with out any alcohol. He finally agreed that he would try, but then a few minutes later, he started to get up and walk towards the bar. I watched him, and decided not to say anything until he actually got something out, but when he was about half way to the bar, he froze. He turned around and came back to the couch, sat back down and closed his eyes, and started strumming just about as hard as he could. He was frustrated, and I could tell he was about to go legitimately insane. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes, but didn't make eye contact. "Thirteenth time that's happened."

"Thirteen? Well awesome job. Keep it up and if you need me come down to the restaurant and get me. Ok?" I told him, standing up.

"Yeah. Cool. See ya later."He still hadn't looked at me. He put his guitar pick between the strings so it would stay, and lifted his hands to see how bad they were shaking. They were vibrating terribly, his fingers moved as if he was drumming them on a table, and the whole hand itself shook back and forth like a cell phone on vibrate.

"Ok, later. Love you."

"Love you, too…" he mumbled as he looked down and started picking his guitar again to some lonely, depressed, somehow seductive tune. I smiled at him, and remembered what I told Catie.

"Um, Mason? Can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Sure. Whatcha got on your mind?" He looked at me this time, and seemed to have calmed down a lot already. He put his guitar down, and sat back, facing me with his arms across his chest, fighting the urge to hold me close to him.

"Well…uh…remember a few weeks back…? When I first came over here…?"

"Yeah? That was fun," he smiled, as averted his gaze from me, to some where far off, a million miles away. Still staring, he asked, "What about it?"

"Do you happen to remember what we did that morning?"

"Oh…I think I know where you're going with this…"

I walked over to the couch, and sat on the opposite side, a few feet away from him.

"You do…?"

"Yeah. I understand…" He let out a heavy sigh. I was afraid for what he would do now. Would he storm out? Or would he be loving and considerate?

"So…can I ask you a question…?"

"I guess."

"What are you going to do with me…?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're going to leave me aren't you?" My voice cracked, and I was close to tears.

"No. Of course not,"He whispered softly, scooting closer, and putting his arm around me, and held me close to his chest. "Only guys who just wanted one thing from their girls would do that. I won't. Come on Kelsey," He was whispering into my ear now. "I love you. I'm not going to leave you stranded. Especially in this position. I love you too much to do that."

We sat there for a moment, and after a minute or two, he moved back to the other side of the couch, reclined, and motioned me to come lay on his chest. Still depressed, I slid over, and rested my head on his chest. He put his arm around me, and rested his hand on my stomach, softly nibbling at my ear, and whispering sweet words of comfort and love. His lips lightly glazed over my neck, becoming increasingly aggressive as time went on. I turned my head and touched my lips to his, pulling away when he was starting to go to far. He stopped, realizing what he had done, and nestled his head in the hollow of my neck.

After about fifteen minutes, I had relaxed a bit, knowing I wasn't alone on this. Mason had fallen asleep, his body cuddled close to mine. I wanted to stay there forever, to just listen to his steady heart beat in unison with mine, and to hear his calm breathing, which told me everything was going to be okay, as long as he was there beside me. But, knowing I couldn't fulfill that desire, I got up, and headed back over to the restaurant.

The lunch service went by quickly. We served one hundred eighty-five people, and compared to the population of only four hundred, we did pretty well. Everything ran smoothly, and nothing out of the ordinary happened. As I was leaving, I decided to just walk by my house and looking in the windows from afar, to see if everything was ok.

I did just that, and as I was standing about one hundred feet away from the house, I noticed something in my window. I was slightly scared to look up and see what it was, but I did anyway. It was Grady. I was happy to see him, but just because he wasn't a demon anymore. I thought I could come in and talk to him, maybe find out what was up. But as I started walking toward the door, I kept my eyes on the window. When I was only about five yards from the door, he visually transformed into a demon. I backed up to where I was standing before, and he turned normal again. I repeated this a few times, and the same thing happened every time. After about two or three times, I finally gave up. I couldn't deal with this anymore. Mason needed me, and I needed him. I had to keep working on the restaurant. I missed Grady, and our long talks at night, but I would soon just forget about them. I hoped he would come out of this, and that it was just a phase, but that may not be a possibility any longer. My own brother, my twin, and old best friend, now tried to kill me every time I slept in my own house. I would call a priest to bless the house and things like that, but I don't want Grady to leave. If this goes on for another month or so, then I'll call a priest, but for now, I think Grady will grow out of it. Or at least I hope.

I walked back to Mason's apartment, at about 3:30ish, and found that he was still asleep the couch. He hadn't moved at all. I walked in, and laughed quietly to myself as I looked at him. I walked over to the couch and sat down next to him. I decided to return to my spot, and close my eyes just for a moment as I cuddled against him and laid my head on his shoulder.

When I woke up again, it was 6:15. Mason was still sleeping, and in the same position he was in when I left for lunch, about six hours ago. I stood up slowly, and stretched. I knew I was late for the dinner shift, and poor Catie was probably running around, wondering where I was. I found a blank note card and a pen.

_Mason,_

_I came in around 3:30ish and found you were still asleep on the couch. I lied down next to you, and then fell asleep on your shoulder. It's now 6:15, and I have to go back to the restaurant, but I'll be back around 11 or so. _

_Megan_

I left the note on the coffee table, next to where his feet were. I slipped on my tennis shoes, and silently glided out the door.

_**Mason's Point of View**_

__I woke up at 7:30 with a headache. I hadn't had anything to drink today, and my hands were starting to shake, already. "Well…it wouldn't hurt to have one drink…Megan won't know."So I got up and walked over to the bar. I told myself I would just have one beer, but that didn't happen. That one beer came and went, and so did 3 more.

After those, I did get away from them for a while. Maybe two or three hours, until 10:30. For those two and a half hours, I sat in the studio, recording various melodies I made up on the spot. I made all kinds of melodies- Country, Island, Pop, Rock, and even some Alternative. I also played with a few songs I previously recorded, adding some sound effects and things like that. But after those two and a half hours, I couldn't take it anymore. I walked out of the studio and headed towards the bar. I sat there for about a half hour, and just had two beers.

11:00 came, and so did Megan. She walked in, and turned around to lock the door, not noticing I was sitting right there. I sat there, looking over at her, and waited for what she was going to say when she turned around and saw me there, loosely holding a second Coors beer in my right hand that was resting on the bar.

She turned around, and her smile disappeared as she looked at the drink in my hands. She averted her gaze, and sighed. She walked over toward me, still wearing her sweatshirt, and behind the bar. Then, she finally spoke.

"So, what'cha been doin'?"

"Oh, nothin'. Just sittin' here." I said, lifting up the bottle and slightly tipping it toward her, then taking a drink. I smiled at her, but just because I knew she couldn't say anything to that smile.

"Number…?"She was hesitant to ask.

"Five." I said, smiling and taking another drink.

"Mace…"

"Yeah?"

"Why?"

"Headache. Gotta get rid of it."

"Advil?"

"That only helps hangovers."

"Well, you had one this morning."

"Yeah, but then I fell asleep again. Around 1ish."

She wasn't happy with me, obviously. She told me that she wasn't going to work tomorrow, in order to prevent me from having any drinks. We talked for a while, and I eventually made my way to the couch, and fell asleep the way I always do, with my hand covering my eyes.

I woke up the next morning, with Megan right next to me. She was leaning on me, and just staring off into space.

"Kelsey…? You do know its 12:00 right?"

"Yeah…so?"

"Shouldn't you be at work?"

"No, I'm stayin' home today." She told me, still staring, her gaze focusing in on something a million miles- and years- away.

"Why?"

"Why do you think?"

"Oh…"

"Exactly. "

We sat there for what seemed like eternity, and neither of us spoke for a whole millennium. We didn't move either. I wanted a drink, but I knew Megan would kill me if I even took one step toward the bar. The only way to resist drinking was sleeping.

I woke up again at four, and Megan was sitting on the other end of the couch, playing my acoustic guitar quietly and staring at nothing. She was playing a song called 'Love Story,'by Taylor Swift. When she finished that song, she went right into Kenny Chesney's 'Who You'd Be Today.' About half way through the song, I finally spoke up, "Hey."

"Hey…" She responded, continuing to play the instrument and still staring, but now she had a wistful look on her face.

"Where'd you learn to play those songs?"

"Just by ear. Listening to the songs and figuring out the chords."

We talked about different songs and chords, and things like that. She told me that when she first got a guitar, she made up a melody of a few chords, and has never been able to put words to it. Kind of like me.

A little bit later, about six, Megan fell asleep while reclining on the couch. She was lying on her back, with one hand on her stomach, with her feet crossed. I opened the studio door and walked out, then had an idea. I started lightly walking across the room, and right before the cork from a wine bottle came out, I looked over at Megan, making sure she was asleep. She was, and so I continued. Just a few seconds before the bottle opened, she said, "Don't even think about it."with her eyes still closed. I opened the mini-fridge and closed it, with out the wine inside. Since I've been drinking for almost five years, I know how to silently get a cork out from a wine bottle. I did, and I poured myself a drink. I had the glass up to my lips, and slowly tilting it, when I noticed Megan was watching me with disappointment. I froze, and after a few seconds I put the glass back down and looked away. I could feel her eyes burning a hole through me, but I tried to stay calm. "I wanted to close my eyes for ten minutes. And look what you do."

"I can't help it! I need a drink!"

"Mason, need or want?"

"Need."

'Mason Crochetti, come on. Put it down, and leave it down.'

I looked at the drink, and something came over me. I took the drink in my hand as Megan's brown eyes shot through me. I lifted the glass, and took the whole thing in one gulp. I didn't want to do it, but I did. Something was taking control of me, and I didn't know what it was, but it frightened me. I turned and put the glass in the sink, and tried my best not to make eye contact as I took my acoustic and Fender Stratocaster by the necks and carried them into the studio. The whole time I just wanted to melt away and hide because Megan was just staring at me. I walked into the studio and shut the door behind me with my foot. I put the guitars down on stands, and sat down at the effects board. I rested my elbows on my knees as my head was cradled in my hands. I closed my eyes, and just wished to be someone else. I wished I would just be in another place, at another time. "God, please. Just take me and put me in Margaritaville with Jimmy Buffett. I can't take this." He didn't answer me, but I wasn't really waiting for one. "Come on, Mas. It's 5 o'clock somewhere. Probably in Margaritaville, and I can't go until I suck it up and deal with this." I snapped out of it, and played a few more melodies on my guitar, and wrote a few lyrics to some of them.

I eventually got up and walked out of the studio. I looked over at Megan, who was sitting there, still on the couch, playing with her iPhone. I sat down next to her. "What'cha doin'?"

"Nothing. Just checking e-mails."

"Cool. You know, you can turn on the TV if you want."

"I know. I didn't really wanna mess with it, though."

"Ok, well I have to go and get Vince from the dog hotel, so I'll be back in about an hour or so. Wanna come?"

"Sure. I guess."


	21. Glare

**Chapter 21**

**Glare**

We rode down the road in silence, but then after fifteen minutes, we started to speak. "So what kind of dog is he again? I remember you told me the day we met but that's it."I didn't get a response, until three minutes had passed."He's an Akita. Japanese Akita, actually. He'll do just about anything for anyone, so he'll love you."

"Haha, aww, he sounds adorable!"

"He is."Mason said, checking his mirrors as we sped down the parkway. He didn't seem right. He sounded like something was wrong- like he was either mad or upset.

"Mason, are you mad?"

"Why?" It sounded more like a statement more that a question.

"Well, you're not really like your regular self."

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not."

"Maybe."

"Will you tell me what's wrong?"

"I'm just not feeling right today. Shut up."

"…'Cause you haven't had much to drink?"

"Maybe. I'm not sure. Got somethin' to do with you, though. I know that."

"Oh, um, alright. What did I do?"

Mason didn't say anything, but just looked over at me, and made a gesture towards the bump in my stomach. "That's why **your** mad? That's not even my fault!"

"Well it's not my fault! So it has to be yours! I didn't do anything!"

"You so did! You and your damn seductive behavior!"

"Wait, so now it's my fault you find me attractive? And clearly sexy?"

"Well…maybe…" I calmed down. I put my hand on my stomach and looked out the window.

"Look," Mason started. He sighed, and struggled to continue. "I just don't think I'm ready. And yeah, it's my fault, I'm older and I shouldn't've done that to you…but you were just…so…beautiful…I couldn't help it…" He let out a heavy sigh, and focused back on the road. I saw in the reflection of the window that his facial expression was very pained, and he was obviously stressed. I could see in his thoughts that he regretted that night, but to some extent. He wasn't very upset, and in fact, he enjoyed it. I don't blame him, so did I. I just wish I could help him somehow. But that wasn't much of an option anymore.

The empty silence was filled with the soft tunes of the radio, like _Fall For You _by Secondhand Serenade, Toby Keith's _God Love Her, _and Matt Nathanson's _Come On Get Higher. _And by the time Taylor Swift's number one hit came on_- _Love Story- Mason had had enough, and turned off the radio with such force I thought he was going to break it_._

Eternity in an hour finally passed, and we arrived at the dog kennel. After about 10 minutes, we finally got Vincent, and we were on our way home. Mason still didn't seem really happy, and I could sense that he was going to blow up at me anytime now. I could say something like, _'I love you,' _and he would blow up. During the ride, Vincent was in the backseat, panting loudly, and Mason told him to shut up a few times. Mason's favorite song came on, and he rolled down the windows of the Trans Am and blasted the radio. I loved it, and so did Vince. He stuck his head out of the window, and seemed to smile as the wind hit against his face and blew his ears back.

I missed my dog. I hadn't seen her in such a long time. My parents let my uncle 'borrow' her because he was thinking of getting a black lab just like her, and he wanted to see how they acted. I began to worry. What would happen when I got her back? I am able to take care of her; I have the money, but no space. I'm just staying at Mason's, and don't really have my own house that only I inhabit right now. I hoped that she wouldn't come back until Grady had either left or gone back to normal, because asking Mason to have another dog and me stay there, is just too much.

We arrived at the house, and Mason sat down on the couch and looked at his hands. He rested his forearms on his knees as he sat forward, and turned his palms to the floor. He relaxed his fingers, and they took on a gentle arch as they shook violently beyond his control. I decided to take a risk, and tell him what had been on my mind for a while. He shook his hands harshly, and then wiped his palms on his thighs, and stood up. He walked over to the window, and looked out to the sun setting just over Nashville. This was the best time of day, because Nashville was on the horizon, and with the sun setting and all the beautiful oranges, yellows, reds, blues, and purples, it was like a picture. It was almost too perfect. I stood in front of the bar-stools, facing him. I said a silent prayer to myself, and spoke.

"Mason…?"I asked, cautiously. I knew he was mad at me, and trying to talk to him could be a serious mistake I'd regret for the rest of my life.

"What do you want?"He snapped, almost shouting. He jerked his head in my direction, and shot the most evil glare and it felt like knives were flying through the air. His glare made me feel so small, and I just wanted to suddenly become invisible, or somehow transport to a far away land, somewhere where no one's ever met me, or even heard of my restaurant. I knew I made a terrible mistake, but I went on.

"I just wanted to talk to you, but I guess never mind..." I whispered.

"Look! Just leave me alone! I have a headache and I haven't had a beer in like two days! Don't talk to me!" He muttered a few words under his breath that were directed towards me, as he walked into his room and slammed the door. Vincent, who had been on the couch the whole time watching all the action, was quietly whimpering. He laid there, with his head on his paws and frightened eyes that were glued to me.

"Hey Vince…it's ok, buddy. Mas is just mad at me right now, and for the next few days…"I comforted him, as I bent over and scratched his ears. I heard Mason banging around in his room, and I assumed he was probably looking for some kind of drink. A few minutes later he slammed the door open, grabbed his big leather jacket and keys, and walked toward the door with out a glance or word. I asked him where he was going, but I don't know if he heard me or if he was just ignoring me. He walked out, and didn't come back.


	22. Need to Escape

**CHAPTER 22**

**Need to Escape**

_**Mason's Point of View**_

I walked out of the apartment, down that stairs, and to the car. I couldn't stay in that room anymore. I was already on the edge, and if I stayed there, I would loose my temper again and maybe even hurt myself. Or even worse, hurt Megan.

I got in the car, and started the engine. The hum of the Trans Am vibrated the air trapped in the underground garage. I leaned back and closed my eyes for a few minutes. I opened my eyes again, and looked at the clock. It was 6:20. It was starting to get dark, but and my hands were really starting to shake, and I had had a headache all day.

I pulled out of the garage, and just drove. I didn't know where I was going, or when I was coming back. I sped out of Luttrell, toward the country. Several police saw me, and noticed I was speeding excessively, but they were used to it, and let me off the hook with only a wave of their hand or a nod of their head to acknowledge me. I returned their nod, and sped away into the distance.

It was now 9:15, and I had been driving for almost three hours. I knew I had to turn around eventually, and I did. I drove faster this time, just as fast as I wanted. Down those old country roads, police don't care how fast you go. Well, at least they don't care how fast I go. They've actually given up trying to arrest me for two reasons- they know me because I'm always causing trouble, and I'm also usually down at the police station for one reason or another.

One thing I thought a lot about, is Megan. What should I do with her? She's already about two months pregnant, and we obviously can't go through with abortion, because that's taking human life, and that's just wrong. Plus, I couldn't live with that, and neither could Megan. I didn't want to leave her, because I know she's scared and in a very vulnerable place right now. That's the last thing I want to do: just leave her out in the cold, stranded and alone. Then she would really go crazy. I knew I should stay with her, and I knew I would, but I wasn't sure how I should handle the whole situation in general. I mean, I don't know anything about raising a kid. I'm just a kid myself. I'm only eighteen. Now Megan, she's just sixteen, and she's calmer than I am. Well, at least she acts like it. That's what she wants me to think. I know she's really scared and nervous though. When I told her that I loved her and I would never leave her, she was calm. That's going to be the last time we are both fully calm for a long time.

_**Megan's Point of View**_

Mason left and he didn't come back for another hour. I didn't know where he went since he didn't tell me, so I left. I walked back to my house after locking up Mason's place, and feeding Vince. I stood on my porch, looking at the door, trying to decide if I should go in or not. The cool May air made me shiver slightly, as I decided what I should do. I knew Grady would be waiting there for me, and I wasn't sure if he would be a demon or if he would be normal. I decided to take a risk, and opened the door. The house was dark and cold; the heater had broken.

"Come in…" was all the voice said. Grady. I knew that voice anywhere, demonic or not. "Grady, it's just me. Megan. Your twin. Now are you going to hurt me or not? If you will, I'm leaving."I stood there, staring into an empty room. _'I won't…' _This time, it really was Grady. It startled me to hear his real voice instead of the low gravelly fake one, but I loved it. I smiled, and I could feel the soft teenage smile appear on his face, too. I asked him if I could come in and sit down, and he told me I could. I walked in cautiously, and sat down slowly. "Why are you so tense?" Grady asked me.

"Oh, just the fact that I'm sitting here with something that could kill me with his bare hands!"I snapped at him. My sarcastic comeback came out so quickly I didn't have time to understand what I had just said. Much to my relief, he laughed. "Same old Megan!"

_**Mason's Point of View**_

I walked into my apartment, and was immediately greeted by Vince. I hung up my car keys and jacket, and sat down on the couch. Vince followed. I scratched him for a little, and suddenly he put his paw on my thigh and whimpered. This was his way of speaking to me, and much to my surprise, I often understood what he was trying to convey. This time, I wasn't so lucky.

"Oh, come on, Vince. I'm not up for this right now." He whimpered again, and I felt his muscles tense. I rested my head on the back of the couch, my eyes closed. I sighed. "What?"I asked impatiently. "Give me a hint." I watched as Vince stood up, jumped off the couch and trotted toward and behind the bar. "Vince, you aren't getting a drink. I can't have one, because Megan will eat my head off if I do."' He came out, and sat in front of the barstools, holding a beer bottle in his mouth. "Vince, I told you. No. I can't have one, and neither can you." Vincent, the half-witted dog that he is, stood on his hindlegs, and slammed the bottle down on the ground, shattering it. The cold bubbly liquid sprayed everywhere. On Vince, on the carpet, hardwood, barstools. Even on me, ten feet away. "Vince! You son of a bitch! What the hell was that for!" I trailed off, cursing under my breath numerous times. He knew he had done something wrong, but didn't pay any attention to it; he barked at me ferociously, and I could tell he was frustrated with me, too. He grabbed the jacket Megan had left at my house, and dropped in on the floor at my feet. "What about her, buddy?"

_**Megan's Point of View**_

__I talked to Grady for a long time that night. For four or five hours at least. I finally got to ask all those questions that had built up over the course of five months. I never did see him, though I knew quite clearly where he was. Whenever he changed places, I would feel a certain pull towards that spot in the room, and I would talk to that specific area. He didn't show himself, and I knew it was deliberate, so I questioned it in my mind, not speaking out loud. Grady answered me. "I'm not showing myself because I still look like a demon and I don't really want to scare you away again. I'll be better soon though, I promise."

"How did you know I was thinking about that?" I asked him.

"I can read your mind."

"Yeah, right." I said, in disbelief. I knew Grady now wore an expression of embarrassment. I could feel it. "You're…serious?"

"Of course!"

"Alright, what am I worried about?"

"You're worried that Mason is going to leave you because a about two months ago you spent the night at his house after I scared you, and you got drunk. Now, you're pregnant with his kid."

"How did you…?"

"I know what goes on with you Megan. I'm not totally gone. You won't get rid of me that easy." I felt him smile curve on his lips, and a light punch on my upper arm. I smiled. I missed this Grady, the real one. My twin.

"Wanna know what else I can do?" He asked, that familiar twinkle in his eye as he itched to show me something knew he'd learned.

"Sure," I laughed, "Go ahead."

"Alright, well you know those myths about telepathy and stuff?"

"Oh no. You did not..!"

"Yeah! Wanna try it?"

"Uh, sure! I guess," I let out a nervous laugh. "So how does this work?"

"I got no idea but it's awesome!"

"Wait, before you send something, would I be able to respond? Seeing that I'm not really…you know- _dead_- yet?"

"Well we will find out! Here we go."

Only a few seconds had gone by, and I got his message. I read, _Did it work?_

_Yeah! _I thought, unsure it would really go through. _You get mine? Don't think I'm doing this right…_

Then Grady spoke out loud. "This is awesome! We should talk like this all the time!" He laughed. Man, I missed him so much.

I talked to him for a long time, totally abandoning my thoughts about Mason and Vincent, and even everything else on this planet, and universe. I was just so happy my brother was back to (almost) normal, and I couldn't wait to finally spend the night in my own house again. I did end up falling asleep on that couch, and when I awoke, Grady had put a blanket over me to keep me warm. He was now visible, and was sitting in the chair facing away from the door. He was just like he used to be- just the teenage boy version. Not demonic, or like a hologram, just normal. I smiled as I looked at him. I loved him so much, and I had missed him terribly. He sat with his back on one of the arms of the chair; his legs hanging over the other. His right elbow rested on the top of the chair, as his hand covered his tired cocoa eyes. I grabbed my phone, and checked the time. 11:00. I checked my messages, and realized Mason hadn't called yet. I just assumed he had gotten drunk since he most likely didn't know where I went, and just because that was his usual. I decided I would let him sweat it out for just another day, or maybe just 12 hours. I wasn't really sure how much he could take with this sort of thing, but I didn't care. He had worried me sick with his whole drinking addiction for months now, and I was tired of it. One day won't hurt him.

But, I went against all of that, and called him. We both agreed that we needed a few months apart. I told him that no matter what, pregnant or not, if he wasn't better by September, I wasn't going to accept him again. He thought that a fair agreement, and said goodbye. That was the last time I heard his voice for a few months.

I stayed in the house with Grady for all of those months, and each day he helped me out. As the baby grew, I was getting sick constantly, and throwing up every morning. I felt terrible, but with his help, I got through it. He helped me every day, and never grew tired, or even impatient with me. It was like he was back permanently. He slept in his old room, he ate and cooked for both of us, cleaned up the house, and he acted so normal I almost forgot he was…well… _dead._

One morning, Grady woke up, and I asked him if he would like to come to work with me. Jess and Catie had missed him terribly since the accident, and I wanted him to really meet Mason, that is, if I saw him. Since we hadn't spoken in 5 months, would he still be in love with me? I wasn't sure how Grady would respond, but his eyes lit up, and his adorable smile came back. I knew what the answer was.

We walked all of the two hundred feet over to the restaurant, and walked into the back door. Madi was already there, and was her cheerful self as usual. She greeted me immediately, but when she saw Grady, she stopped what she was doing and her eyes grew wide. "M-M-Megan…Th-There's someone f-f-following you..!"

"I know, Madi. It's okay."I waved her away as I walked out to the front room, and whispered to Grady to go invisible. I wanted to scare Jess a little bit. Grady and I already had this all planned out, and we put it into action.

"Hey, Jess. How we doin' today?" I played it cool.

"Eh, okay. Not the best ever…Oh hey how ya feeling?"

"Oh, not to good. Catie told you, didn't she?"

"Yep. I'm really sorry about what happened. That's gotta suck. And you're only 16!"

"I know. Oh well. Can't take it back now," I shrugged, suddenly feeling a bit down. Again.

"Alright, well if you need anything, just tell your old bud Jess," She smiled at me. A few seconds after Jessie had finished talking, Grady made the classic ghost wind sound. "Did you hear that..?"Jessie asked, quickly becoming frightened. "No. What?" This happened a few times, and Grady finally drew close to Jessie's ear and said. "…boo." She spazzed. That poor girl jumped out of her skin faster than you could say that word. I put my hands on her shoulders, calming my laughter. "Jessie! Jessie, it's okay, it's okay. Calm down, I know what your hearing."

"WHAT?" She screamed at me, grabbing my arms and studying my eyes, looking for help.

I steadied my gaze on Jessie, and spoke to Grady. "Okay, show yourself." I knew Grady had just become visible behind me, for Jessica's eyes tore from mine to his, then back again. "…Grady…?"

"Jessica."He responded. I hadn't turned around yet, but I knew he smiled, and he sent me a telepathic message, saying _Thank you for doing this for me. I've missed her so much. _I smiled at him, and responded with, _Your welcome. The whole time you were gone, Jessie was so upset. Its so great to see her happy again._

"Grady!" Jessie threw her arms around his neck. "Hey, Jess, how've you been?"

"_Oh, I've been okay! We've missed you around here! No mischief!" _She said with a laugh. _You two kids have fun. Just don't have her end up like me. _I winked at him, and he smiled. I walked back to the kitchen, and left those two love birds alone. Jessie had had a crush on Grady since she was little, when she was 8. Likewise, Grady had those same feelings for her. They never truly knew of each other's emotions though, and Jess finally confessed it a week before the accident. It was heartbreaking when I had to tell her that her love had gone to another place, but she took it better than I thought she would. She soon got over it, or at least she acted like it. I could tell she was still shattered, but she threw herself into her work until I ordered her to take a few days off to start thinking straight again.

Now, she was standing here, my brother's arms wrapped around her lovingly, slowly swaying back and forth with his head resting on hers. She was so happy he was back, and that old shine in her eye had finally come back after a number of years.

_**Mason's Point of View**_

When I finally got it out of Vince that Megan had gone home I was okay with it, but as the day went on, I worried more and more. Now, this had never happened before, and I never thought it would: I was so worried I couldn't even drink. I had no idea what was wrong with me. I just couldn't bring myself to get out a beer or anything.

The next morning, Megan called me. She said that she needed a break. She didn't want to totally break up with me, but she needed a few months alone, just until September.

So over the next few months, I tried my best to work on my drinking, since Megan warned me that if I didn't get away from it, then we would break up, officially. I got down to only have one drink a day, and slowly got down to having none in a few months. Then, something went wrong, and I shot back up to 8 or 9 a day.

On September 7, I woke up at 11:37. I decided I would go back up to Mike and May's, and maybe have a word with Megan- just to see how she is. I wasn't really sure, and was a little nervous about meeting her again. I just wandered for awhile, and actually ended up at Mike and May's, by accident. I was relieved JD and his guys weren't there. I did not have enough strength to fight them. Not now.

I walked to Jessie, who seemed to be talking to her imaginary friend since no one was with her.

"Hey, Jess, who ya talkin' to?"

"Oh, you don't recognize him?"

"Um, who?"

"Him!" She said, pointing to thin air.

"I don't see anyone!"

She turned back to whoever she was talking to, and asked, "Can he see you right now?"

"No." The voice scared me and I jumped a little, searching for the owner of that familiar voice, but not finding it.

"Who was that…?" I asked, frightened. Jessie looked at me, than back to it. "Show yourself." He obeyed. A boy of about thirteen appeared and I realized he looked just like Megan…

"Grady. . . ?" I questioned. The boy, his head low, with his hair over his eyes, whispered his response in a low monotone, hushed voice. "Yes…"

"Is that. . .I mean. . .are you. . .?"

Grady had not moved. Not even his jaw to speak. He seemed to speak through his mind. "I am."

"Why?"

"Because of you."

Grady lifted his head slowly and looked at me. His soft eyes turned from a smooth brown silk, to a highlighter green with midnight black disfigured spots glared at me; the hair on the back of my neck stood up straighter than ever.

Megan walked out of the kitchen. Her mouth dropped open, and she walked over. She looked from me to Grady, and back at me again. "Guys, knock it off."

Neither of us moved. "Jessie, help me out here."

Jessie understood and at the same time, they smacked me and Grady. We both looked at them, and said, "What the hell!" in unison. Megan spoke first. "I told you to knock it off!"

I had and excuse. It wasn't a good one, and didn't make much sense, but I used it, with out thinking first. "Well don't blame me; I had a few beers this morning." As soon as I finished, I knew I had made a mistake. Megan's face quickly turned to hurt. "Y-you what..? You promised…"

I was speechless. I moved my mouth to speak but no sound came out. I reached my hand out to her, to explain to hold her…anything. She moved away from me, and took a few steps back. She put her head down and rubbed her arm. I was so mad at myself. By now, I had forgotten Jessie and Grady were standing there, watching us. _"_Megan…"

She lifted her head, and her Dove chocolate eyes pierced a hole through me as they grew watery. One single tear rolled down her check, and then another followed. I wanted to hold her, and tell her everything would be okay, though I knew I was the one and only reason she was crying. I took one step forward, but she walked back to the kitchen.

"What was that about…?" Jessie asked, puzzled.

"I'll tell you later." I walked back to the kitchen, and noticed Megan wasn't there. "Where…?"

"Home."Madi answered me. I thanked her, and ran out the backdoor.

I got to Megan's house, and I walked in. "Kelsey. . .come back here babe. Come on now I'm not going to leave you like this." I received no response, but I wasn't exactly expecting one. "Kelsey..?" I knocked on her door, and put my ear up to it. I heard her in there, and walked in. She was listening to Starts with Goodbye, by Carrie Underwood, and fiddling with some things. I walked in, and saw a suitcase on her bed, open, and filled with clothes. "What's this . . . ?"

"My suitcase." She said, slowly, trying to stay calm and stop crying.

"Where-"

"Away." She cut me off before I could finish my sentence.

"But…why?" She was walking back and forth, carrying clothes from her dresser and placing them in the black bag. She wasn't making eye contact the whole time.

"To get away. I've been alone since June of last year: it's September 7."

"Please stay. . ."

"Why should I? So you can go off and break my heart again? I couldn't take that Mas, I-" Her voice broke. Tears fell from her eyes like water from a water fall, and she was taking quick, short breaths while her whole body shook. She sat down on the bed, and sat forward as far as her 7 month pregnant stomach would allow, and covered her face with her hands.

"Megan… Come here, sweetheart." I sat down next to her, but she got up in a heartbeat.

"No! I wont!" I stood up, just a few feet away from her. "The only thing you'll do is kill me again! Leave me alone!" She pushed me, and I fell flat on my back. She took her suitcase and went down the stairs as fast as she could. She was just opening the door when I grabbed her. I picked her up by her waist, no matter how heavy she was, and carried her to one of the chairs. She fought me, obviously, but I basically pinned her there, and held her down so tightly she couldn't move at all. "At least tell me why you're leaving! Don't just run out on me!"

"I already told you.." and much to my surprise, I felt all her muscles relax. She calmed her breathing, and had stopped crying for the most part. I stared at her, studying her face, trying to understand, and after half a minute I relaxed too, realizing she wouldn't run if I let her go. I loosened my grip on her wrists, and took a step back, then sat on the couch. "You keep making promises…then...then I be-believe you. . .and you break them." She finished her sentence, and finally looked at me. Her eyes were just indescribable at this point. They were a mix of every emotion known to man. Depression; Anger; Lovesick; Dreamy; Confused and Worried. Everything. Except one. Happiness. _"Mason, you mean a lot to me. I really, really love you. But I can't keep living like this.'_"

I watched her walk out, and get in her car. I knew I couldn't stop her, even if I tried. I stood at the door and watched, already missing her, until she was out of sight.


	23. Here Comes Goodbye

**Chapter 23**

**Here Comes Goodbye**

The restaurant was deathly quiet. No one else knew why, but I did, and I didn't talk at all. I walked through the restaurant, and exited out the front door. I slowly walked back to my apartment. I got Vincent's leash and collar, and we went to the old park just outside of Luttrell.

The park, Little Fox Run, was filled with trees and old abandoned playground equipment. I sat down, my back against a tree trunk. Vince trotted up to me, laid down, and rested his head on my thigh. He looked up at me, and I knew he could sense something was wrong. Whenever I was upset or angry, I would always talk to Vince about it. He always listened, and sometimes even responded through actions.

"Vince, I have a problem. Well, many actually."

Vince lifted his head, and perked up his ears, ready to listen. "Well," I continued. "Megan thinks I drink too much, and I agree with her, but I can't stop. . .I don't know, it's just difficult…and then I have Megan, who ran off to who-knows-where, 7 months pregnant." I sighed. "How could I do some thing so stupid? Why did I do that? I knew what was going to happen, but I just ignored it! I should've never started drinking. That's what got Megan pregnant. That's what started all of this, that damn alcohol. No, it's not the drinks fault; it's my fault for letting this get out of hand. I should've stopped before I got this bad. I wonder if there still hope for me. I just should've stopped period. Stopped when Megan told me to, and not after she gets pregnant…I mean, I really just threw away both of our lives, mine and hers.

All I've been thinking about lately, is I'm just too young for this. I've got my whole life ahead, and hell, I'm just a kid, myself, how am I going to raise one? So much for ditching this town, and hanging out on the coast. Oh well. I can't turn back the clock." Vince looked up at me, and he whimpered, knowing I was right, but wishing otherwise. "The first thing I thought when Megan told me she was pregnant, damn. I just thought, _'well, there goes my life. My future, my everything,' _But now that I really do think about it, it isn't that bad. Maybe this kid is exactly what I need to shape me up, to get me to stop drinking, either totally or just less. I hope that's it. I already got enough money from my parents and from money I've made on my own, so I think I'll be alright for when Megan comes back…man, I already miss her. I wonder if she's even gotten around to thinking about me yet."

_**Megan's Point of View**_

__Pedal to the metal. Radio blasting. I sped down the interstate, headed for New York City. The sun was beginning to set, and less people were on the long stretch of highway roads ahead of me. I put on my iPod, and cruised down the road. It wasn't too long before I started thinking. I thought about everything that had gone on during the past few months. They'd been so crazy and have just flown by. I had only been driving for an hour, and I already missed Mason. And Grady as well_. _"I never said goodbye to him!" I slammed my palm on the steering wheel. "Oh well…I'll be back in a few days. No big deal, I guess." I thought. But I just couldn't forget about them. Especially Mason. I wondered if he had already started drinking again. "He's probably already had a few beers and a whole bottle of wine. . ."I teared up a little just at the thought of him breaking his promise again, and most likely many times to come.

At the World Trade Center, my parents used to know a lot of people. My mother and father worked there in his twenties and early thirties, before they moved to Luttrell and started a restaurant, and a family. My parents knew just about everyone here. From the janitors on the thirty-first floor, to the highest person of authority one the one hundred second floor. I shed a few tears from the pain of loosing my mother and father. I wiped my tears away, but never the memories.

Later in the day, in late afternoon, around 8:00 or so, I arrived at my destination. The World Trade Center. I took an elevator all the way up to the eightieth floor, and walked to the only office I remembered. I turned into the office, and saw someone who was typing frantically on his Mac. Yeah, that's him alright. Jack hadn't changed a bit since I saw him last, which was about two years earlier.

Jack was a very interesting character, who had at least five inside jokes with every single person who ever lived. His hair was a pale brownish color, the flipped out almost everywhere. He was one of those friends that you could go for years without seeing, but still have something to talk about. He was someone that you would never be able to forget, and who would always be right there when you need him the most.

The reason my family knew him (besides the fact that my dad used to work there and knew **everyone**) was because he used to live in Luttrell. He was one of Grady's best friends, and he was part of Rob's gang. Dierks, the trouble maker in Rob's gang, rode up here on his motorcycle at least once a month. He was always gone for a week or two, and he never told anyone when he was leaving or coming back.

"_Come in?"_

"Hey, Jack!" He looked up from his computer and smiled. "Oh, Megan! I haven't seen you in forever! How've you been?" His brown eyes seemed to sparkle when he smiled. His smile had always been contagious, and it hadn't changed a bit.

"I've been okay. Luttrell is so crazy now!"

"Really? Why?" He walked back to his desk, and sat down, then motioned me to sit in one of the chairs a few feet away.

"Well have you ever met Mason Crochetti?"

"Uhh…yeah. I think so. I used to be in a gang with him when we were younger."

"Well, anyway, I've been trying to help him out with his drinking problem, but…"

"Wait a minute, drinking? What?"

"Yeah, he's got a serious addiction."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah! You know how many empty bottles I found in his apartment?"

"Uh…forty-five!" Jack suggested, sarcastically, trying to be outrageous in his estimation.

"Close. Fifty-two." As soon as I said that, Jack's jaw dropped. He just sat there whispering comments in disbelief, such as, "Oh my gosh…" and, "Geez..."

"Guess how old he is."

"Twenty-one? Please tell me he's at least twenty-one!"

"He's. . .let me see he just turned eighteen about 10 months ago."

"Where is he getting this stuff?"

"Relatives."

We talked for a while, and I basically told him everything in about thirty minutes. He just couldn't believe it. A while later, his coworker walked in. she was a tall blonde with lots of makeup. She was really gorgeous, with her wavy, sparkly platinum blonde hair falling perfectly on her shoulders and reaching down to the middle of her back. She wore high heels, actually just street walker shoes, with a low cut hot pink halter top dress. I was immediately envious of her. I could wear all that and never look half that beautiful. Her blue eyes were like royal turquoise satin, with tiny white spots hidden within them. She wore pink aviator sunglasses on her head, and lots of papers in her arms.

"Jack? I need help on some- oh hey, who's this?" Cathi asked, staring wide-eyed at my pregnant stomach. Jack, who was still sitting there, was as absorbed and as distracted as I was. I snapped my fingers in front of his eyes a few times to wake him up.

"Oh, sorry," He apologized as he rose from his chair.

"This is M-Megan," he stuttered. "And uh this is Cathi. She's my coworker."

"Are you new around here?" She asked me, barely making eye-contact.

I finally woke up. "Oh. . .uh no. Well yes. I actually live in Luttrell, TN. I'm only here for a few days."

Cathi looked me over, somewhat disgusted that I was from a small country town in the middle of no where. I didn't care though. I was used to it. I was always a little offended every time that happened, but not as much as I used to be. I didn't really want to get in an argument, so I accepted it and moved on. "Anyway, why are you here?" She asked me.

"Oh, I just had to get away." I managed to half smile.

"You gotta place to stay?" Jack asked me. I had almost forgotten he was standing there.

"No. . ."

"Want to stay with me?"

"You sure?"

"Oh yeah it's cool! Hey have you met Nick yet?"

"Uh I don't think so. Why?"

"Well, he's my roommate," he said with a laugh, and another contagious smile.

_**Mason's Point of View**_

__I sat on my couch. Doing nothing. Vince lied by my feet, head on his paws. I sat forward, my head in my hands. _What was I going to do without Megan? Start smoking and drinking again? Or totally quit? Should I just go after her? Or let her calm down and come for me? Has she even thought about me since she left? _I got a headache so many questions came to my mind. I stood up; I walked to the bar. I put a wine bottle on the bar, and Vince, who had lifted his head, growled at me. "Come on, buddy. I'm only going to have one." I turned away to get a glass, and as I was searching, I heard the sound of a bottle crashing and shattering. I turned around to see Vince with his front paws on the bar, standing on his hind legs, snarling at me. I knew what he was saying. He was trying to tell me, "Look, Mas, Megan cried, and almost jumped off a building because of your drinking. Just stop already, you damn drunk!" He was snarling at me, barking every few seconds. "Fine!" I shouted. "What do you want me to do? Show me!"Vince jumped down, and sat in the studio door. I sighed. "Alright…"I grabbed both guitars, and walked to the studio.

_**Megan's Point of View**_

__A while later, after Cathi left, Jack took me to his apartment.

"Now, I have to warn you, my house is pretty messy. You'll see why."

"Nick?"

"Exactly."

"Can't be worse than my place. . ."

"Are you kidding me? Your mom cleans twenty-four hours a day!"

I sighed. I really did not want to think about them now. I turned my head, and looked out the window.

"What. . .?" Jack questioned, the expression of worry tinting his low voice.

"You know how…um…well they went to the Bahamas. . .and there are uh a lot of drunks there so…" I took a deep, quivering breath, trying not to cry.

"Oh. . ."

We walked into Jack's suite. He had the top room with a fantastic view of NYC. Nick came staggering out from one of the rooms, vodka bottle in hand. I couldn't do this. I just couldn't. I had had my share of dealing with alcoholics, and I was done. I backed up, and pushed myself and against Jack's chest. I turned around, and looked at him. I told him, "Jack, I can't stay here. I can't handle this. Basically, if I stay with another alcoholic, I'll go off the deep end, okay?"

"Come on, he isn't an alcoholic! His girlfriend just broke up with him and he's a little shaken up."

"Are you sure?"

"Been my roommate since like a year ago!"

"Alright…"

_**Mason's Point of View**_

__Over the next few hours, I wrote three or four songs. I've found that I'm always more productive when I'm depressed.

The whole time I was working, I could not get Megan out of my head. No matter what I did, I couldn't forget her. I tried listening to music, blasting my guitar, and recording it and everything. Eventually, I just gave up, got Vince's leash and took him out for a walk. We walked to Mike and May's. I met Jess there, wand we sat down and talked for a while.

Jessie saw me as soon as I walked in, grabbed my arm and asked me a question, a worried expression on her face.

"Mason! Where's Megan?"

I sighed. "I don't know."I looked away, and told myself to calm down.

"You. . .you don't know…?" She whispered.

"Look Jessie, I've been all over this damn town. She's not here." I looked right at her, and used my usual Italian hand motions.

"Well…what's she going to do? She doesn't have any family with in a two hundred mile radius!"

"I'm not sure. I'm just hoping the baby will be okay."

"Yeah, that's true. I hope she doesn't have any alcohol."

"She won't. She's a smart girl, when she wants to be that is."

Jessie was really upset now. I tried to change the subject, to cheer her up a little. "So where's that lover of yours?" I smiled at her.

"Oh, he's just back at his house." She half smiled, but it was better than nothing. "Why don't you just chill with him?"

"What about the restaurant?"

"Shut it down for a few days." I crossed my arms and sat back, acting twenty times calmer than I actually was. Jessie returned my smile this time, and that allowed me to relax a bit.

"You know, your right. I'm just going to talk to Grady. Who knows? Maybe he knows where she is!"

"Exactly! Now I have my cell phone, so call me if you find out anything, or if you need me for any reason."

"Okey dokey!"Yep, Jessie was back.

_**Megan's Point of View**_

__Jack had a pretty nice apartment, but Nick was a little scary sometimes. Sometimes, about four or five times a day, he would come up behind me, and make the weirdest sound he could think of. The first few times, it was funny, and I played along with it. Then I couldn't after the first two days. On the third day, I went in to work with Jack for a little. I stayed until lunch or so, and as I was leaving, Cathi was dragging Nick by his wrists to Jack's office, I laughed at the sight of them, and at Nick's priceless expression of being dragged by a girl. Cathi almost threw him into Jack's office, and screamed, "Keep your damn drunk off my car!" but she smiled sweetly after that, and I heard Jack laugh, and say he would.

Cathi walked toward me, and smiled. "Hey, Megan! What's up girly?"

"Why were you just dragging Nick across the floor?"I laughed and again, and Cathi joined me.

"Because! I'm just awesome like that!" We laughed again.

"No, but seriously," I punched her shoulder lightly, to get her attention. "What happened?"

"Aww he was just handing around my Ferrari with a beer in his hand."

"You have a Ferrari? Bitch!" I didn't usually curse, but something about her made me just feel loose and made me not care about what I said or what anybody thought. I liked it! I wasn't used to it, mainly because I had a reputation to keep up back in Luttrell, but here? I was free.

"That doesn't even bother me anymore," she laughed, and smiled as she continued. "Actually, I'm, going shopping 'cause I'm off early today. Wanna come?"

"Uh…sure. I guess."

"Awesomeness! Let's go!"

We walked outside, and there, right in front of the building, was a hot pink, glittery Ferrari. Oh, and don't forget about the purple sequin polka dots as big as your head.

While I was shopping with Cathi, I got to know her better. She was a fun-loving girl, doing anything for a party or just a good time in general. She was about my age, seventeen. I wondered why she had a job so young, but then I took a look at myself. I had been running the business for about a year give or take. Her parents weren't dead like mine, and they were obviously a lot richer, too.

Cathi dragged me to just about every store in the mall. In a little country town of Luttrell, everybody knows anyone and everyone. Everyone knew who was dating who, who was moving where, and one hundred percent of the people were in to all the gossip. Even the seniors! They loved all that talk. It just made them feel better and included in society and social groups, which is only human nature. But not here. Not here, in the middle of NYC. No one knows the person right next to them, and they don't smile or even exchange a glance. It's so foreign to me. It just doesn't make sense. This place is so cold, and everyone is so mean. NYC is just a concrete block with no trees, or even a blade of grass for that matter. I missed my home. This is not where I belong.

I started thinking about Mason. Cathi was trailing off onto all different tangents, so I figured it was okay if I zoned out a little.

_**Mason's Point of View**_

__I was alone. Megan left, and I didn't know where she was, or if she was even coming back. I missed her. Even more than I ever missed my brothers, or my parents. I sat forward on my couch, holding myself up by leaning my forearms across my legs. Vince sat in my bed room doorway, wagging his tail slowly when I looked at him, and every few minutes he would whimper. Dang, even my dog missed Kelsey.

I wondered what she was doing. Where she was. If she was coming back, and when. How the baby was, and if she'd even though about me yet. It was only the third day, and I already missed her terribly. I wonder if she missed me too. I sighed. If I already missed her this much, was it possible that. . .? No, I couldn't love her. That's just crazy. If I loved her. . .

My vision blurred. Everything and every color in the room was fusing together. My throat stung, and my heart burned. What was happening to me? My eyes were on fire, and a single, cool tear drops rolled down from my eye, to my cheek, and finally fell onto my arm still resting on my legs. I couldn't believe it. This was the first time in twelve years I was crying.

I fell asleep on the couch that night, and the next morning, I woke up, still crying. I sat up, and looked around.

"Mason?" Someone knocked at my door. It was a teenager's voice.

"Who is it?" It was no use, they walked in. I quickly wiped my tears away, and tried to act relaxed. I didn't see who it was though. I looked around. My door was open, and I heard footsteps which obviously indicated the person came in. "Umm. . .hello? Where'd ya go?" I knew someone was there, I could sense their presence, and I could feel their eyes on me. Vince sensed them too, and looked around the room, finally locking his eyes on something. I heard footsteps coming closer, and an imprint on the couch showed that whoever it was, was sitting down just an arm's reach away from me. They were leaning between the arm rest and the back cushion of the couch. Somehow, I knew it had its arms crossed, one foot on the other knee, and it was relaxed. I was just grateful it was (somewhat) human.

"Who are you. . .?"I questioned. I should've been a lot more frightened then I actually was.

Whatever it was, didn't answer me. The only response I received was the sound of light breathing.

"Well, if you're in, you'll probably stay. Close the door, will ya?"I heard a sigh, and what sounded like a snap from it's fingers, and I was the door slam shut. _Oh geez… _I thought to myself. _This thing could kill me with a snap of his fingers._

_**Megan's Point of View**_

__Home. Finally. Well, Jack's apartment was the closest place to home right now. Cathi had just dropped me off from shopping all day, and I was exhausted. Call me crazy, but I've always hated shopping. Also we never had an 'outlet' mall in Luttrell, whatever that is. The only reason you would go to a store back home was to buy something you needed, not to just go and buy, buy, buy, spend, spend, spend.

I missed Luttrell. I had only been here for three days, and I was homesick. I decided I would drive home tomorrow night.

That night was awful. I couldn't sleep almost at all, and I wasn't comfortable, and I had to go to the bathroom, or throw up so many times. I was having serious stomach pains, and I was just so tired, but I could not fall asleep for the life of me! The baby was kicking all night, so that didn't help at all. I sat up, and leaned forward, as much as I could. "Come on…stop kicking…please…" I cried. I cried, and cried. Jack must've heard me, while he was watching TV, because he knocked on the door softly, and walked in. "Are you alright?" I didn't respond. I just gazed at him- or rather his silhouette- through my tears, as he walked toward and bent down in front of me, supporting himself by resting his hands on his knees. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

I sniffed, and looked over at the clock to avoid eye contact. 3:30. I tried to take a deep breath, but I couldn't. I tried to speak, but no words came out. Jack tried to understand, his kind eyes watching me, lost and confused. I finally found the strength to speak, and said, "I'm just really not feeling well. I-I've been throwing up all night, and I can't fall asleep, I miss Mason, and I just can't take this anymore." I put my hands around my middle, and just sat there, trying to breathe and calm down.

"Is there anything I can do for you? Get you a glass of water…? Anything?"

"I d-don't think so." I whispered. "Thank you, though." I managed to lift my head and look at him, a smile on my face. Jack returned my smile, which I could just barely see in the dark of the room. "Alright, well, if you need me for any reason, just call out my name. Okay?"

"Yeah." I smiled again. "Thanks so much, Jack. I think all I needed was just to talk to someone."

"Anytime. I'll always be here." Jack walked toward the door, said goodnight, and closed the door almost all the way, so there was just a strip of dim light from the TV screen. The rest of the night was alright, and I managed to get some sleep, only to dream about the person I missed the most back in Luttrell.

I got up the next day, and noticed Jack was gone. He had left his usual note on the kitchen table, saying:

**Megan,**

** I went out for a run about 7:00 this morning, and I'll be back around 8ish to pick you up for work. Hope you're feeling a little better, and got some sleep by now. See ya!**

**-Jack**

**P.S. Nick had a party last night, and got in around 5:45ish. He was really drunk so try not to wake him up. If you do, don't be alarmed, he'll only eat your face off. Not that you have one! Haha! Just kidding! Just try not to wake him up. Thanks.**

I laughed at I finished reading. I looked at the clock, 7:45. I walked to my room, and got ready, expecting a normal day.

Jack came back from his trillion mile run and got ready for work. About five minutes later and some running around, we were on the road to the World Trade Center.

It was a nice sunny day, and the sun was just rising. There was some wind though, and when wind came, you could feel the building swinging back and forth. Up on the twentieth floor, people looked smaller than ants, and possibly smaller than minuscule red ticks. They ran around and looked like little crazy atoms running into everything and scurrying around the floor. I looked out of the window of Jack's office and thought to myself, _This is not where I should be… I want to go home…_

"Are you alright?" Jack's voice behind me scared me. I turned my head to the side, to see where he was. He was right behind me, studying my expression, trying to understand.

"Yeah, I'm okay…"  
"You always say that. Come on, what's wrong? I won't tell anyone. I don't tell secrets, you know that."

"I know…I'm just a little homesick, I guess."

_**Mason's Point of View**_

__"Who are you?"I still hadn't moved from where I was sitting, and I still hadn't seen whatever was sitting here next to me.

"Guess." A teenage boy appeared and I immediately recognized him as Grady. I stood up, and stepped back a few paces. "What do you want?"

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm alright now. I just want to talk to you."He sat back, as cool as can be, arms crossed and one foot on his opposite knee. "Come on, sit down." He told me. I obeyed, but I wasn't exactly as relaxed as Grady was. "Alright, what do you want to talk about?"

"Megan."

I sighed. I told myself to hold it together, and be calm. "What about her?"

"Where is she." More of a statement than a question if you ask me.

"You tell me."

Grady obeyed, and closed his eyes. I could tell he tried to reach her, to find where she was. Grady's eyes broke open and grew wide. "She's in the World Trade Center…" He whispered quietly to himself. "Why the hell would she go there?" He stood up, and took a few paces around the room, cooling off, while I avoided eye contact, tried my best to remain calm, and not burst into tears all over again.

"I-I don't know. She said she had to get away for a while. Something like that."

He took a deep breath, and looked at me. He was loose again."You miss my sister, don't you?"

". . .yes. . .I really-. . . I really do. . .'"I took another deep breath, and thought to myself, _Stay strong, Mas. Hold it together for just a little longer. . ._

". . .D-Do you love her. . .?" We made eye contact, and then both averted our gaze and focused on something else in the room. I played with my hands, and sucked in a quivering breath.

_Do you, _He asked again, but this time, he did move his jaw to speak. I just seemed to hear him through my mind, but I ignored him as he waited expectantly, and watched me.

I answered. "Yes. I really, really love her, and I can't stand not being with her. . ."

"Mason, she will come back. I know she will. I know her, she's my twin. Alright? Calm down, buddy, she'll be okay."There was a slight edge to his voice, as if he wasn't too sure of his own words.

_**Megan's Point of View**_

__Wind. The building was swaying, and it was 9:57 in the morning, September eleventh. I sighed, and told Jack that I was going to go walk around the building for a while. The building was still swaying a little, which bother most employees, including myself. Cathi had gotten stuck in traffic, so she would be late, and I really didn't know anybody else there. The building shivered, and all of the sudden, I had a really bad feeling. I looked up at the shaking ceiling, then down at the vibrating floor. What was happening? Is this normal? Why is no one screaming?


	24. Crushed

**Chapter 24**

**Crushed**

Darkness. Silence. Stillness. The lights were out, and a voice over a loud speaker was telling everyone to remain calm. The voice ceased to exist. What was happening? Screams rang out from floors above me. They shouted and yelled, praying for someone, anyone, to be able to decipher their pleas for immediate help. Jack ran out of his office, screaming over the rumbling of the building. **"This things is going to collapse on all of us! We have to get out of here! NOW!" **He grabbed my arm and pulled me out the door, to the stairs. **"Really? Jack, I can't run down twenty flights of stairs! I'm like seven and a half months pregnant!"**

** "You will if you value your life!"**__He shouted, starting down the stairs, running frantically. About three hundred people were running toward me for the stairs, so I started down as well. Jack's words hung in my mind. **"It's going to collapse on all of us. . ."**__I thought to myself, _What if I die? What if I never see Mason or Grady or Jessie or Catie or anybody ever again?_ A message from Grady. _Be careful Megan, and I'll see you there. I love you, and Mason misses you, but I am trying my best to comfort him. Look up. Bye._ I looked up at the ceiling like Grady had told me to, and before I could respond to him, it came down on all of us. It only took about one hundredth seconds, and half a Hail Mary for everything to fall, and crush all of us. The weight of ninety plus floors came down on us, slammed us into the ground.

_**Mason's Point of View**_

__I was still sitting there, with Grady. It was 9:59 in the morning. A bright, sunny morning, yet I had a bad feeling Megan wasn't okay. Despite Grady's attempts to comfort me. He seemed tense as well, and the energy between us was upsetting. I reached for the remote, and flicked the TV on. Fox News appeared. The reporter was in New York, informing us that in the World Trade Center, a plane had crashed between floors seventy-eight and eighty-four. "Mason, calm down. I know what floor she's on."

"What floor?" I stood up, and practically screamed, scared out of my mind.

"Twenty. She's on the stairs right now." I hoped to God that Grady was right, but I really wasn't sure.

"What tower is she in?"

"South…" he trailed off. The south tower had just collapsed. Another plane had crashed in to the North tower and it too collapsed about a half hour after the crash. It didn't fall forward or backward, left or right, but into itself. The building was gone. After all the dust had settled, the camera revealed mounds of pulverized concrete, furniture, and worst of all, dead bodies. I prayed none of theme were Megan. Half of them were burnt so bad and so injured, they were just unrecognizable. It was terrible, and by far the scariest thing I had ever seen. This infamous disaster was officially dubbed 9/11.


	25. Forever My Kelsey

**CHAPTER 25**

**Forever My Kelsey**

_**Mason's Point of View**_

"Oh my God…" Grady whispered.

"What? What is it?" I asked, terrified.

"Mason…I'm so sorry…but she's gone…"

"She's…she's…no she's not…" I stood up, and took a few steps away from him, refusing to believe. "No. No, she's not! She can't be! Prove it!"

"I can't. I just know. Twins have a very strong bond, dead or alive. They always know where the other is, and what they are doing. And…I'm afraid she's gone, Mason…"

"No! She can't be! That's not possible! I never got to say good bye! That's not fair! You're wrong!"I shouted, tears falling to the ground. What was I going to do? I knew Grady was right but… That just can't be true. Megan? No, not my Kelsey. We were supposed to be together forever! And she would always be mine, and I, hers. She can't die! She's still going to come home, and everything will be alright. It'll all be okay, we'll have the baby and… The baby… Not only was my Kelsey gone…but…the baby as well…

"Grady…what…where did I go wrong on this…? What happened? I mean she was fine less than a week ago and now she's…she's dead…and the baby, too… Gosh, she was so excited about him, too…"I had calmed down a little bit, but was still in total and complete shock. It just didn't make sense. You love someone, and think your going to spend the rest of your life with them. It's a deep, true love, but then something goes wrong, and they leave for a short period of time. Then…then something tragic happens. They are gone forever. What are you supposed to do now? 'Getting over it' just isn't an option anymore. It's something you live with for the rest of your life, no matter how long you live or how short.

The funeral was on November ninth, and I made a speech.

"Um, well, I'm not totally sure what to say, but here goes…

"I met Megan when I was seventeen so almost two years ago. We just met by chance. She saved me from a fight and almost getting myself killed, and took care of me. Well, it was the age-old story of a guy and a girl, who fall in love. We were doing great until she found out about my drinking.

"Some of you know about it, but most of you don't. Well, I used to drink a lot. Megan found out about it, and did everything in her power to make me stop. I've stopped now, and I really wish she knew how much she meant to me, and how grateful I am toward her.

"Uh, the next I would like to say, is I guess about this notebook I have in my hand." My voice was starting to get weak. "I was in Megan's house a few days ago, just because it was like a second home to me. I saw this in her room, on her desk, and it had a pink post-it note on it. The note read:

"Dear Mason,

I have been writing in this notebook, keeping track of

everything since we first met. I would like you to have it, and

to finish it for me.

I love you Mason,

Megan

"This book, named 'Stranger,' tells the story of a very special girl named Megan Kyle, and how she helps her alcoholic friend, Mason, as well as dealing with her dead twin brother, who haunts her throughout the story. During this whole ordeal, she puts up with all the craziness, out of love for me- Mason, and her brother, which I'm sure all of you are familiar with, Grady. The reason she named her book Stranger, is because when we met, she thought she knew everything about me. But then she figured out that I was an alcoholic, and so she named it Stranger, after her opinion of me.

"One last thing I would like to say about Megan, is that she was by far that strongest person I have ever had the privilege of meeting. All of us were fortunate enough to have this, this teenage girl who went through just about everything in the short seventeen years she lived. No matter what life threw at her, she didn't let it knock her down. She just threw it right back in its face and carried on.

"I will miss Megan with all of my heart and soul. I believe she was my soul mate, and my true love, and I hope to see her in heaven. I love you, Megan, and I hope you have fun watching all of us from up there with your parents, and the rest of your family."

I kissed the casket, and so did my tears. Grady appeared next to me, and put his hand on my back, as we walked away from the funeral sevice.

"You did a great job up there buddy. You really did. That was wonderful."

"Thanks. I guess…"

A blonde girl, dressed in black approached me. "So, you're Mason Crochetti?"

"Yes, ma'am. That's me." I confirmed, trying to walk away from her. To get back to my apartment, and shut myself off from the world, yet again.

"Oh, I've heard so much about you!"

"You have?" I was still trying to walk away, to avoid all conversation with anyone outside of Grady or Vince.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm Cathi Ray." She called after me, "I worked in the World Trade Center, and I was stuck in traffic the day of the accident."

"So, you knew Megan?" I stopped, and turned around to face her.

"Not for very long, but yes, I did. She talked about you all the time. Every time she spoke, it was 'Mason this, Mason that.' She was just so deeply in love with you. You could really see the sparks in her eyes when she talked about you, and she missed you so much the whole time she was away."

"Thank you for telling me that." I managed to smile, which took all my strength and willpower. "That means a lot."

Grady and I walked away, and when we were about ten yards away from Cathi, she called my name again.

"Mason? Mason, did you know Jack?"

"Jack…? Jack Ross?"

"Yes, that's his name."

"Yes." I nodded as I turned around and walked back to her. "Why?" I gazed at her curiously, my head cocked to one side. "I used to be in a gang with him about five years ago."

"Well, he too talked about you frequently. He's-"Her voice broke too, and she couldn't talk. I put my arm around her to comfort her, and we walked her to her car.

Grady and I walked to my apartment. He told me he was going to hang around my apartment for a while, just to make sure I didn't go crazy, or if I needed someone to talk to. That's exactly what I needed.

He did just that, and when we got back to the apartment, we were immediately greeted by Vince and Jazz, Megan's old dog. I looked at the bar, and walked away. I sat on the couch in the middle, dogs begging for a scratch on either side of me. Someone knocked on my door. I sighed, depressed, and walked slowly to the door. I opened it, and looked out. No one was there. I closed the door, and walked back to the couch, then sat down again.

Something was moving out of the corner of my eye, and I could just barely see it. It was a pen that was writing a note in some familiar hand writing. When whoever it was finished, I looked over at Grady, who smiled and nodded toward the letter, urging me to read it. I picked it up, and sat down on one of the bar stools, beginning to read.

Hey Mason!

What's up? Long time, no see! Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you like Grady did. I'm just here to help you. If you need me, I'll always be here. I'm actually sitting here, on the other bar stool right now.

Now, I know I'm gone, but I'm still with you. I'll never leave you, and just call me when you need me, and talk, because I'll always listen. I heard what you said at the funeral, and I just wanted to say that that's the nicest thing I've ever heard anyone say to me. When you think about all the fun times we had, don't cry, be happy. I know I'm happy when I remember. Anyway, just call me whenever you want to, because I'm with you. It may not seem like it, but I'm here.

Love,

Megan.

"Megan?"I asked, hesitantly. Megan appeared, just like she was when I first met her, and she pounced on me, knocking me out of my chair, screaming, "Mason! I missed you so much!"


End file.
